According to Wikipedia, Foveaux Strait separates Stewart Island/Rakiura, New Zealand's third largest island, from the South Island. The stuff.co.nz reported this tragic news this morning: "Pair die in Foveaux Strait":
The bodies of two fishermen have been pulled from Foveaux Strait after a boat capsized last night.
Five were on board when the boat ran into trouble. At 10.40pm, police were alerted via fishermen's radio that three survivors were safely aboard a Bluff-based fishing boat and were being taken to Ruapuke Island, near where the capsizing happened.
No details from this report about what kind of trouble they encountered or whether or not freaque waves were the cause so one can only surmise. But the article listed a series of troubled past cases on record going back to 1998. In particular these:
* February, 9, 2003: A freak wave flips a boat near Escape Reef, off Centre Island, tossing its four passengers into the sea. A Riverton resident who was boating nearby rescued the four from the waters.
* November, 1, 2001: One man goes missing and two are plucked from Foveaux Strait after a rogue wave capsizes their 3.6m dinghy off Stirling Point.
* June 27, 1999: Four passengers on board the Foveaux Express are injured after being flung to the deck of the ferry by a freak wave during a crossing of Foveaux Strait.in which freaque waves were clearly mentioned. So while Foveaux Strait is home to the Bluff oyster fishery according to Wikipedia, it is clearly not a save place for fishermen by any means. Let's pray for the lost souls in this case especially for their family and love ones.
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