A report from Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) released this morning says the Rakiura Charters boat, of which the owner was the skipper, capsized after collecting six passengers from Freshwater Hut on September 12, 2019.
The skipper of the taxi Henerata had collected six passengers from the hut before travelling down Freshwater River.
''At about 13:10 the vessel entered Paterson Inlet and the weather conditions deteriorated. About 10 minutes later the Henerata became swamped and capsized. ''
The skipper managed to make a mayday call before the boat capsized. He and the passengers then held on to the upturned boat for about an hour until rescue vessels arrived.
None of the occupants were wearing life jackets at the time, but were able to hold on to the hull because cut-outs provided, by chance, makeshift handholds.
All occupants suffered hypothermia and had ingested water. Some were flown to Southland Hospital by helicopter for treatment, the report said. There were no fatalities.
TAIC found that sea conditions were worse than the skipper expected when he entered steep and unpredictable waves, and this was a reason why the boat overturned.
As there was no communication facilities in the Freshwater River area, passenger pick-ups were rarely cancelled.
''It was about as likely as not that this resulted in a self-perceived pressure to operate the water taxi service," the report said.
''The operator has since amended its booking information provided to passengers to notify them that cancellations are possible and that they should be prepared to stay overnight should cancellations occur."
TAIC made a recommendation to Rakiura Charters to address issues, including defined weather criteria in its Maritime Transport Operator Plan, to assist a skipper's decision to sail and assess the risk of capsize.
''The operator has made several changes to its operations to improve safety should a capsize occur."
Another recommendation was that Maritime New Zealand require appropriate stability and buoyancy testing for all domestic commercial vessels, after it was found a lack of stability information probably prevented the operator being able to assess fully the risk of capsize.
