Fishermen on board on the Lewa were located by crew on a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-8A Poseidon. Photo: NZDF
The fishers left the city of Lautoka to go fishing for up to two weeks at Nanuya Island in the Yasawa group, reporting engine issues on 2 October.
They had not been heard from since and did not have locator beacons.
Their sole communication was a mobile phone that was believed to have run out of battery, but they did have life jackets and flares.
Local search efforts were hampered by poor weather, and the Rescue Coordination Centre Fiji asked for help.
The Poseidon P-8A aircraft and crew were launched to assist on Wednesday morning.
By the afternoon, they had located the fishers using radar and visual searches and contacted a nearby vessel to rescue them.
Air component commander Air Commodore Andy Scott said it was a challenging search over a large area.
"The excellent search data provided by Maritime New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre and the manner in which the fishermen had prepared themselves to survive at sea led to this successful outcome," he said.
The aircraft was undoubtedly an incredibly welcome sight for the fishermen, he said.
Rescue Coordination Centre operations manager Michael Clulown said their team conducted detailed analysis to give the Poseidon crew the highest probability of finding the fishermen.
That included oceanic current and weather data to identify the search area.
"The search area was large due to the amount of time the fishing boat had been drifting, but we were able to provide the P-8A crew an area to search, which is where the vessel was found."
Scott said the P-8 was proving itself a highly effective and responsive asset to support the people of New Zealand and our Pacific neighbours.
