Eight people on board a boat that capsized in Kaipara Harbour are dead or missing, police said on Saturday night.

A total of 11 people were on board the charter fishing boat The Francie when it overturned near Kaipara Harbour's North Head about 3.30pm.

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CHRIS MCKEEN/FAIRFAX NZ A police dog handler prepares his equipment before taking part in the search.

Three people were pulled alive from the water, along with five bodies. Three people remain missing. The three survivors were taken to North Shore Hospital with moderate injuries.

The police Eagle helicopter and Coastguard were still combing the area for survivors.

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SUPPLIED The Francie, a charter fishing boat, had previously towed another boat to safety, from peril on the Kaipara bar, but on Saturday came to grief herself.

Inspector Duncan Hall said on Saturday night the three survivors had been plucked from the water by the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

Hall said a shoreline search around South Head and Te Oneone Rangatira Beach would continue into the early hours of Sunday morning.

The air search had been called off for the night, and would resume at 7am, he said.

AUCKLAND WESTPAC RESCUE HELICOPTER Rescue crews at the Kaipara Harbour tragedy.

"Inquiries are being made into what happened to the vessel and how people ended up in the water," said Hall.

The manager of the Grand Hotel in Helensville, Bonnie Johnson, said that was "pretty raw at the moment" in the bar.



"We don't know what has actually gone on out there, or who exactly was involved," she said.

"But one thing's for sure - one of our boats isn't coming home.

DELWYN DICKEY / FAIRFAX NZ It is understood the vessel got into trouble on a bar at the entrance to the harbour.

"And there are kids who aren't going have their fathers there for Christmas.

"Anyone who's got any emotion and anyone who comes from a fishing community will be feeling pretty distraught right now."

She said the incident had locals' memories "flooded" with images of the last boat that went down in that area, 22 years ago.

Friends are worried for the owner of The Francie, Bill McNatty.

Two people died in that incident and the boat sunk in two minutes, she said.

"Shivers yeah I remember it... you never forget that feeling in your stomach," she said.

"We come from a fishing community - every time one goes down, it brings all the others back."

ARHT Two Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopters are helping in the rescue in Kaipara Harbour.

Members of the boating community in Kaipara, northwest of Auckland, said The Francie had been reported missing during the afternoon.

Few knew the perils of the Kaipara better than her crew: The Francie was involved in a dramatic maritime rescue in 2012. The Francie pulled a 12-metre ketch, Cheval de Mer, to safety, after it had been adrift for several days and came perilously close to hitting the bar.

Then three weeks ago, The Francie got in trouble when its engine failed at the harbour mouth. It had to be towed to safety, a local boatie said.

The owner of a fellow Kaipara boat charter, Sharon Kostanich, said the incident had come as "a terrible shock".

"It's a tragic thing to happen, terrible, and of course it really brings it home to us - you're out there in a boat responsible for so many people," she said.

Kostanich said that the capsized boat was owned by local man Bill McNatty.

Oamaru-born McNatty, a passionate environmentalist, had been a spokesman for Kiwis Against Sand Mining. He also worked with Kaipara Forest and Bird, and earned a degree in psychology from the University of Waikato. His only daughter Kathleen-Jane Hotere, 23, is understood to be a niece of the late artist Ralph Hotere.

The Francie is licensed to carry up to 20 people, with two crew, and is available for hire at $700-$800 a day.



It promises people the chance to catch kahawai, snapper and gurnard and in season trevally, maumau, and kingfish.



"We at Francie Charters are one of only a handful of charter boat on the Kaipara Harbour, we cater for all fishing persons young and old," an online advert says.

The family of one man, Willie Uea, offered their condolences to those who had lost loved ones, but thanked God that he had chosen to skip the trip.

"Praise the Lord my husband didn't go on this fishing boat trip today," said Maarametua Uea on Facebook. "For some reason he changed his mind ... he felt something was gonna happen."

The Francie's previous owner Rod Bridge, who operates another boat charter in the Kaipara, said that it "was way too rough to get out over the bar" on Saturday.

He had called off his own boat trips for the day, due to bad conditions.

"The only reason I'd be out in that sort of weather would be for a rescue mission - to get some other (person) who'd got stuck out there."

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission said it opened an inquiry into the "marine accident".

It said it was tracking the continuing search and rescue operation, and was sending two investigators to the scene who were expected to arrive on Sunday morning.

"The commission's inquiry will seek to explain the circumstances and causes of the accident, with a view to helping prevent similar accidents in the future," the commission said.

It said it was unable to confirm further details of the incident while the search and rescue operation continued.

A Maritime NZ spokeswoman said the organisation was "looking into what action it will take".

"Our rescue co-ordination centre has been assisting with determining the drift of the sea currents to help with the rescue."

A fixed winged plane was also there helping.

'A WALL OF WHITE WATER'

Fisherman Eric Kuypers, from Manukau, was on the north end of Muriwai Beach at the same time the boat got into trouble, and said the sea was wild.

"It was so rough," he said.

"It was just a wall of white water at least 500m to 1000m out. That surf had got up from 1.4m to about 3m.

"We saw the plane going up and we saw about seven ambulances."

A number of charter fishing companies operate vessels on the harbour.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand media and communications manager Lisa Smith said lifeguards from Muriwai Volunteer Surf Lifeguard Services were assisting police with the rescue.

FRANCIE IN NEAR DISASTER BEFORE

The Francie was involved in a dramatic maritime rescue in 2012.

According to the Kaipara Lifestyler, The Francie pulled a 12-metre ketch, Cheval de Mer, to safety, after it had been adrift for several days and was perilously close to hitting a sandbar.

"When The Francie took the ketch under tow, disaster was minutes away," the website wrote.

As of November 4, 79 people had drowned in New Zealand waters, according to Water Safety NZ figures.

This time last year, the toll was 94.

Of the 79 deaths, 59 occurred at rivers, beaches or in tidal waters.

NEW ZEALAND'S TRAGIC MARITIME HISTORY

The sinking of the Wahine in the Wellington Harbour in 1968 was New Zealand's worst modern maritime disaster. Fifty-one people died when the Wellington-Lyttelton ferry capsized. Another person died a few weeks later, while a survivor died in 1990 of complications from the incident.

In May 2006, six people died after the fishing boat Kotuku capsized off the coast of Southland.

On Anzac Day 2007, five-year-old Travis Rowles and his eight-year-old sister Erina died when the family runabout sank in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.

In March 2012, eight people drowned after the Easy Rider capsized while sizing from Bluff to the Muttonbird Islands.

Two months later, So'saia Paasi and his seven-year-old son, Tio, died after their boat overturned off Auckland's Mangere Bridge.

In November of that year, two men drowned after their fishing boat capsized near Waiheke Island.

* Anyone who has concerns about the welfare of relatives is asked to attend Helensville Police Station or call 111 for assistance.