17 Jun 2013

Three rescued from sinking boat near American Samoa

3:40 pm on 17 June 2013

Two Americans and a Canadian have been rescued from a sinking boat, nearly 300 kilometres off American Samoa.

The New Zealand Rescue Co-ordination Centre was alerted to the incident about eight this morning and sent three vessels, rescuing the crew at about midday.

The 31-metre vessel, thought to be a long range support for fishing charters, is still afloat but the co-ordination centre says it is expected to sink.

It says it doesn't know why the boat started taking on water, and that the incident could have been very serious if it wasn't for the rescue vessels being close by.