Margaret River Marine Rescue in drama off Injidup

Margaret River Marine Rescue saved a lone boatie near Injidup on Monday night after other rescue groups north of the Cape were hindered by difficult conditions.

The call from Water Police came in about 8pm on Monday night, the group’s Bill Ivory said.

“A crew was quickly gathered and once we had identified the location, we launched at Gracetown to tootle up and see what the issue was,” he said.

“We were informed we had a single person in a small tender off a 50-foot motor cruiser which had sunk, so we stopped tootling and opened up the big 150s to get there as fast as possible.”

The rescue was aided by the waxing moon and support from a rescue helicopter which located the man in trouble.

“About 500m out we spotted his EPIRB strobe and had him on board shortly after,” Mr Ivory said.

“Cold, but well rugged up, there were no apparent injuries, but as a precaution we transferred him to the waiting ambulance at the new Canal Rocks boat ramp. Thank the stars that was there.”

Mr Ivory said Naturaliste Marine Rescue was hindered in their role by “some pretty poor conditions”.