Eight people were rescued from Doubtful Sound at 11am on Saturday when the 12m catamaran they were in sank in poor weather.
An Invercargill police spokesman said the people on board the catamaran, understood to be Charlie Cat, had been retrieving craypots when the boat's steering failed and it began taking on water.
The skipper called a nearby fishing boat for help while all on board prepared to abandon the boat, putting on life jackets. Five people got into a lifeboat, while three swam to shore.
Te Anau fisherman Bruce Gordon, skipper of commercial crayfishing boat KCee, responded to the call within 15 minutes, picking up all eight people from rocks in the area.
Mr Gordon's wife, Natasha, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday her husband had taken the group to Deep Cove before returning to try to locate the boat, which sank rapidly off Pack Point.
Maritime New Zealand senior media adviser Sophie Hazlehurst said MNZ was aware of the incident and was making preliminary inquiries. A decision as to whether a full investigation would be launched would be made within a week.
