A massive sea rescue search mission involving multiple aircraft and on-water vessels was conducted to find survivors of a boating tragedy which occurred last Thursday evening.
Three men, two of whom were brothers, were left clinging to their seven-metre Goodwin Longboard 150 kilometres out to sea after a large wave hit and overturned their boat.
One man was winched to safety at 6am Friday morning, a second was brought aboard a VMR vessel at 11am that morning and a third man remains missing.
Police announced on Monday that, despite best efforts, they have now sadly suspended the search.
When three men departed Mackay Marina on Tuesday last week, they had no idea that tragedy would strike and only two of them would be returning home.
The trio had been fishing recreationally 150 kilometres offshore near Creal Reef, 85 nautical miles from Mackay, when their boat overturned.
One survivor later reported that a large wave caused the vessel to capsize.
They managed to activate their emergency locator at 8.10pm on Thursday evening and the signal was sent directly to Canberra where a central office deployed the emergency services.
Within hours the RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter had made the long journey to the remote location, homing in on the destress beacon.
The aircraft spotlight and Night Vision Goggles were used to locate one survivor who was spotted clinging to the hull of the upturned boat at around midnight.
Despite best efforts, however, the helicopter had to return to base without the man, a mechanical issue and low-fuel were cited as the reasons it was unable to winch him to safety.
Volunteer Marine Rescue was immediately deployed to retrieve him, but it took several hours to reach the site, meaning the man had to endure a long and terrifying night at sea.
Search efforts resumed just before dawn and within five minutes an RACQ CQ Rescue pilot spotted a naked man floating near the reef.
He was winched to safety and taken to Mackay Base Hospital suffering exposure, dehydration and hypothermia.
It was then confirmed that he was the same person located by the chopper the previous evening.
The survivor, who was the 43-year-old friend, reported that the brothers had tied themselves to a blue esky but had somehow become separated over the night.
Fortunately, at 11.10am that morning a second man was spotted by a Volunteer Marine Rescue boat, and he was soon winched from the vessel by a Townsville helicopter Rescue 500 and transported to Townsville Hospital.
He was the older brother of the 41-year-old Mackay man who remains missing and is now feared lost.
Search efforts continued for four days, despite Inspector Andrew Godbold saying that it was unlikely for any individual to survive more than two days at sea.
He said it was a challenging search that was hampered by the remote location of the incident.
“By the time we get boats and planes out there to search they have to turn around again,” said Inspector Godbold.
“The search area was very large.”
Up to 15 emergency vessels ranging from boats, helicopters and planes were combing a 200-kilometre radius and by Monday lunchtime the search was sadly suspended after a gruelling 80-hour search.
The missing man, a 41-year-old Grasstree Beach resident, is called Scott Jasperse.
Our thoughts are with his family, and his brother and their friend as they recover from their injuries.
One of the survivors was winched to safety, rescuers saying the shallow reef prevented him from drifting too far from the search scene. Photo supplied by RACQ CQ Rescue
The youngest of two brothers onboard, 41-year-old Scott Jasperse, remains lost at sea. Photo: Facebook
Search efforts miraculously managed to save two of the three men. Photo credit: RACQ CQ Rescue
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