The crew of a fishing boat have been rescued from a liferaft after their vessel sunk off Tauranga today.
A beacon alert from the 18-metre boat Rebecca May was picked up 92 kilometres north-east off the coast of Tauranga at midday by the Rescue Coordination Centre.
Vessels in the area were alerted and a helicopter from Whitianga identified a "large amount of smoke, along with a liferaft and buoys'' but could not see the crew from the boat.
Nearby vessel Lady Columbo responded to the call and picked up all three crew from the liferaft at around 1.30pm.
The cause of incident is unknown at this stage, said Maritime New Zealand.
