A man was hospitalised with severe hypothermia after the speedboat he and seven others were in was hit by a large wave and sunk on Lake Eildon on Thursday, February 2.
Victoria water police Inspector James Dalton said a squall hit the lake as eight young people who had hired a houseboat went out for an evening cruise on a 6.5m speedboat.
“They decided to turn around and head back to their houseboat but unfortunately a large wave hit, filled the boat with water and it sank very quickly, which left them all in the water,” Insp Dalton said.
Three people swam 200-300m to shore, two clung to a tree on the lake and the other three found safety on a small island.
“The ones clinging to the tree and on the island were out there for an hour and a half – they were hypothermic,” Insp Dalton said.
When the alarm was raised, helicopters were sent from Melbourne and found the pair hanging from a tree, dropping a flare in the water to help the local volunteers locate and rescue them.
“I must admit, I got the call at home at 7.40pm (on Thursday) and it sounded like it was going to be a dire result with eight people going into the water in those conditions, so they were very lucky,” Insp Dalton.
He said on Friday the speedboat was sitting at the bottom of the lake.
The Marine Investigation Unit attended at the weekend to try to locate it and take statements from witnesses.
None of the four men or four women were wearing life jackets when they went into the water, Insp Dalton said.
“The problem is if you’re not wearing a life jacket on a boat and it does flip over and sink quickly like it did, there’s no time to actually put a life jacket on,” he said.
“A lot of them are stored under seats or containers and they would’ve sunk with the boat.”
Ambulance Victoria said a man in his 20s was flown to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition, and a man and a woman in their 20s were taken to Northeast Health Wangaratta for observation.
Five others were assessed by paramedics at the scene and did not require treatment.