Five-and-a-half hours between person overboard alert and police search
Tuesday, 31 March 2026
A cut to on-call hours of the police rapid-response vessel would have played a part in the 5½-hour wait to activate a search for a person who went overboard on a Cook Strait ferry, the head of the police union says.
It comes as records suggest the passenger’s disappearance was not noticed and passed on to police until 90 minutes after Interislander ferry Kaiārahi docked in Wellington early on Tuesday morning.
Maritime Union Wellington branch secretary Fiona Mansell told The Post the crew became aware when an unattended car was discovered after passengers disembarked. They searched the ship for the man, then after checking the CCTV found he had gone overboard.
Police were notified about 2.20am. Eventually searchers on sea and in the air scoured Cook Strait.
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Wellington District Commander Superintendent Penny Gifford said police were advised a passenger on the ferry had not returned to their vehicle after the ship docked in Wellington.
She said the investigation and search were continuing.
“As part of our work, we are reviewing timelines and this will include speaking with staff when they come back on shift.”
Marinetraffic.com records show police launch Lady Elizabeth IV left port to join the search at 7.49am – 5½ hours after the notification.
The Post in October revealed changes to the roster of the Lady Elizabeth which, until December 1, ran a 24-hour service with shifts from 7am to 11pm on weekdays and 9am to 10pm on weekends, with an on-call service outside those hours able to be on the water in police launch Lady Elizabeth IV within 15 minutes of getting an emergency call.
The December changes cut the hours to 8am to 6pm. Police said an on-call service would operate outside those times, but could not say how fast this would be.
Police Association president Steve Watt said the reduced hours would have led to delays in deploying the Lady Elizabeth. Land search and rescue teams were on call 24-7 but they were not trained on the Lady Elizabeth, he said.
The search area on Tuesday covered an area of Cook Strait south of Red Rocks and towards the west – suggesting the person was though to have gone overboard long before the ferry docked at 12.49am.
Interislander’s website said the Kaiārahi left Picton at 9.22pm on Monday. It docked 3½ hours later in Wellington at 12.49am.
The crossing time did not appear to be delayed, suggesting the ship did not stop to search for anyone overboard.
A Coastguard spokesperson said police tasked it with joining the rescue at 6.15am. Volunteers got to the base at 7.30am and left to join the search at 7.54am.
KiwiRail, which owns Interislander, referred comment to police. Police have been approached for comment.