1 Jan 2011

Police name man who died after his boat sank

7:33 pm on 1 January 2011

Police have named a man who died after the boat he was in sank off the Coromandel coast.

He was Raymond Saunders of Kihikihi.

The 68-year-old was in a six-metre runabout with another man in Otautu Bay near the settlement of Colville on Friday night when it was swamped in heavy seas.

His companion made it to rocks on the coast, and was taken to Thames Hospital.

Mr Saunders was found unconscious in the water sometime later.

Police say neither man was wearing a life jacket.