Dramatic video shows rescue from New Zealand boat sinking that killed four

New Zealand’s emergency services released a video of a dramatic rescue operation showing a man clinging on to a wreckage of a sunken ship before jumping into the arms of a rescue swimmer off the country’s northern coast.

At least four of the 10 people on board the chartered boat died after it capsized due to a storm off North Cape on Sunday.

While five people were rescued from the sea on Monday, the rescue teams have been looking for one missing person. The first rescue helicopters reached only at around midnight due to thunderstorms.

The video was shot from the Northland Rescue Helicopter at about 12.30 am Monday after the boat's rescue beacon was activated more than four hours earlier off the remote North Cape, reported the AP news agency.

“Clearances are good. At your discretion, if you want to tack right to the target. At 40 feet, 35, 30,” one of the rescuers can be heard saying, as another reaches the sea.

Helicopter pilot Lance Donnelly told The Associated Press that he wore night vision goggles as they flew to the scene with a team that included another pilot, a winch operator and a rescue swimmer.

He reportedly termed it “the most dramatic rescue” he’s undertaken in 30 years of flying.

They weren’t able to land somebody on the wreckage but instead put a tethered swimmer into the sea nearby.

Nick Burt, Maritime New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Centre spokesperson, told New Zealand’s AM network on Monday night that teams are doing everything they can to find the final missing person.

(With inputs from agencies)