A senior police officer has been hospitalised following a mammoth 15-hour operation to rescue a yacht stranded in severe weather off the NSW north coast.
Emergency services received a call for help around midday on Sunday to reports a Queensland yacht was in trouble about 50 nautical miles off the NSW north coast near Kinsgcliff.
Tweed Heads Water police located the vessel with a shredded mainsail, no engine power, and two men aged 56 and 61 on board.
Officers began towing the yacht, however, due to the extreme weather conditions, the tow line broke multiple times.
“Due to safety concerns, police were unable to pass through the Tweed Bar and instead towed the vessel toward Southport in Queensland, where they arrived about 6.30am this morning,” NSW Police said.
One of the police officers involved in the operation was taken to Tweed Heads Hospital in a stable condition, suffering dehydration, exhaustion, and a back injury sustained during the rescue.
The two yachtsmen were uninjured.
