At 10.15am on Sunday morning, the Raglan Coastguard vessel, Gallagher Rescue, was preparing to head out from Raglan Wharf with the Police Dive Team to search for Eric and Kathy Hertz, believed to be dead after the ditching of their plane on Saturday.
Head of Raglan Coastguard, Wally Hawken said, “Our team had a busy afternoon on Saturday searching after the tragedy and we have another long day ahead of us today working with the Police Dive Team.” The Police Dive Team came overnight from their Wellington base to Raglan Wharf and were transferring gear from their trailer to Gallagher Rescue, in readiness for heading south west to the Gannet Island area where the plane ditched.
Sonar equipment is part of the gear now on Gallagher Rescue. It will be used to assess the site where 2degrees chief executive Eric Hertz and his wife went missing after their plane crashed into the sea yesterday. A team of six – three police divers and three crew – will be onboard Gallagher Rescue, the Coastguard vessel as it searches for the pair on Sunday afternoon.
Details for salvaging the aircraft, whether it will be brought up as one or whether a more detailed extraction is needed, will be decided after an assessment of the sonar readings and a check of the wreck.
The chief executive of 2degrees Eric Hertz and his wife Kathy were onboard the twin-engined plane which crashed into the sea 30 km south west of Raglan, on Saturday afternoon. 2degrees has confirmed that the plane involved in the crash near Raglan on Saturday afternoon was owned by their CEO Eric Hertz. Charlene White, 2degrees communications manager, said that the company had limited information but the couple were “unlikely to have survived”. According to the Sunday Star Times, the couple were on their way to visit their daughter, who had moved to New Zealand following the successful completion of her studies in the US.
Overnight Police have worked through Interpol to contact the family of the Hertz’s who are believed to have been on board the aircraft when it reported engine trouble and ditched into the sea off Gannet Island.
“The two occupants are believed to be the aircraft’s owner, 58-year-old Eric Bennett Hertz and his 64-year old wife, Katherine Picone Hertz. The couple were US citizens who both had NZ residency.
“Officers worked overnight with colleagues in Interpol and the US Consulate in Auckland to ensure relatives in the United States were informed while staff here located the couple’s daughter. New Zealand Police would like to convey their sympathies to the family at this time.”
Tearful friends arrived at the couple’s upmarket Auckland apartment last night, as darkness fell and the Coastguard called off the search.
Late on Sunday morning, Sergeant Warren Shaw confirmed police believe the head of 2degrees and his wife were the two occupants of a plane that crashed into the sea off the Waikato coast.
In Pennsylvania in the United States, Hertz’s siblings, Johanna and Marc, said they were in shock.
“My brother Marc called the RCC (Rescue Co-ordination Centre) in New Zealand and they confirmed,” Johanna said.
Flying was a big part of their family life.
“Our father flies and our youngest brother flew as well for the Navy,” Johanna said.
Waikato Police will hold a media conference in relation to today’s operation at the Raglan Police Station on Wi Neera St, Raglan at 2.30pm.