Raglan residents woken at 5am by low flying helicopter

Raglan residents were woken at 5am by a low flying helicopter this morning (Saturday 3rd Nov.), with Raglan Harbour the scene of a search and rescue activity as all search and rescue agencies took over the harbour for a combined maritime training exercise. Boats were also on the harbour opposite Lorenzen Bay and Moonlight Bay.

Raglan residents are warned that if they see an unusally high number of fire, police, coastguard and surf lifesaving crews in the area it’s nothing to be concerned about. Waikato police search and rescue co-ordinator Constable Dave Pitchford said that the operation started on Friday night and will go through to lunch time on Saturday.

“We’ve got fire, St John Ambulance, police, coastguard from both Raglan and Papakura, the local surf club and the Westpac Air Ambulance taking part.

“The exercise scenario involves an incident on a local passenger vessel getting into difficulty and a number of casualties requiring rescuing from the water.”

Mr Pitchford said a lot of work had gone into minimising the disruption to the general public while at the same time ensuring a realistic as possible exercise for the participating services.

“Probably the most obvious sign something is going on was the helicopter flying over the inner-harbour using a searchlight around 4am. In addition we will be using real people and a number of white plastic drums in the water to simulate others requiring rescuing.

“Obviously our objective will be to recover all the actual people and the drums however we are conscious of the possibility of one of the drums drifting off and becoming a navigational hazard and want to advise skippers to watch out for them and let us know if they come across one.”

While the exercise has been taking place for a number of years Mr Pitchford said recent events across the country, both on land and on the sea, had emphasised the value of such operations.

“Previously when we’ve run these exercises there has been a marked improvement in the level of response of the different agencies called on to respond.

“We’re grateful for the strong level of support afforded to all those involved in the exercise the local Raglan community has shown to us.”

Anyone who encounters one of the drums in the water during or after the exercise is asked to notify the Coastguard Northern Region office on 09 3039357.