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Seven Dead, One Missing in New Zealand Boat Accident

by VOA News

   WASHINGTON --

   At least seven people died and another person is missing after a
   chartered fishing boat sank in large waves at the entrance to a harbor
   near Auckland, authorities said.

   Francie, listed as a 12-meter boat, was carrying 11 people when it
   capsized at the entrance to Kaipara Harbour Saturday afternoon.

   Rescuers recovered five bodies from the water soon after the accident
   and two bodies washed ashore on nearby beaches early Sunday, police
   Inspector Duncan Hall said.

   The boat's crew notified the coast guard that they were attempting to
   cross a sandbar at the entrance to the harbor about 2 p.m., coast guard
   officials said.

   New Zealand map

   The coast guard raised the alarm an hour later when the boat did not
   report back and could no longer be reached on its marine radio or by
   mobile phone. Other boats in the area reported that they could no
   longer see the boat.

   Waves at the sandbar were about four meters high at the time of the
   accident, according to post authorities.

   Sandbars are formed when sand builds up on the seafloor, something that
   can happen at harbor entrances where the ocean meets calmer harbor
   water.