Marine Rescue volunteers successfully located an overdue boater during an extensive overnight search on Tuggerah Lake, and following a resident’s report they could hear a tapping noise coming from the water.
A concerned friend contacted Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie at 7.20pm on Friday, October 20, to report the missing boater, whose primary method of communication was by mobile phone and was no longer responding to texts and calls.
Marine Rescue NSW Inspector Courtney Greenslade said crews on board Tuggerah Lakes 20 and Tuggerah Lakes 21 were deployed to search the lake.
“TL 21 was on the water within an hour while TL 20 joined the search after 10pm because of concerns for the boater,” he said.
“With a lack of natural moonlight both crews initiated their FLIR systems (Forward Looking Infrared) to scan the water’s surface.”
At about 12:30am on Saturday morning a member of the public informed emergency services that they could hear a tapping noise coming from the lake, west of Two Shores Holiday Village at The Entrance North.
With the assistance of NSW Police PolAir, the boater was located in their vessel and rescued by the crews from Marine Rescue Tuggerah Lakes.
The boater was returned to shore safely.
Both Marine Rescue NSW vessels returned to base at 1.45am.
Source:
Marine Rescue NSW