Rescue teams are searching for a New Zealand teenager missing after a boat carrying him and three other people capsized in Bangladesh, officials say.

Albert, 16, whose surname was withheld by police, went missing after the boat overturned in rough waters on Tuesday morning (all times local) near an estuary off Cox’s Bazar on the country’s southeastern coast.

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The other three New Zealanders on the boat were rescued by fishermen nearby.

“The Coast Guard is searching for the boy while a helicopter is conducting an aerial search. Fishermen have also been alerted about the missing teenager,” an official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by rough conditions in the Bay of Bengal, he added.

Mohammad Ali, the officer-in-charge of Cox’s Bazar police station, said the four had been on a trip when the boat met with an accident.

Local media reports said the four were from the same family but officials were unable to confirm that information immediately.

– AFP

A man charged with human trafficking and migrant exploitation is accused of deceiving staff recruited from overseas by promising them they would be paid for all hours they worked.

One of the staff – who was recruited from India – is alleged to have been paid 36 hours per week despite working a minimum of 54 hours.

The man, listed as a company director, is also accused of failing to pay staff for working public holidays, inciting staff to breach conditions of work visas and altering employment agreements to reduce the pay rates.

RNZ earlier revealed a Christchurch man, who has interim name suppression, faced 35 charges under the Crimes Act and Immigration Act.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) earlier confirmed the charges, which relate to 11 complainants, include allegations of “trafficking in persons and migrant exploitation”.

Court documents seen by RNZ reveal the man, aged in his 50s, faces three charges of arranging, organising or procuring the recruitment of a person into New Zealand “knowing that recruitment involved one or more acts of deception”.

Two of the complainants were from India, and the third from Saudi Arabia.

The court documents say the defendant recruited them knowing that the terms and conditions of their employment would be “materially different” from what was promised verbally and in their individual employment agreement “namely that all hours he worked would be paid by the employer”.

The man also faces charges of supplying information to an immigration officer knowing that it was false or misleading, inciting or procuring people to breach the conditions of their work visas, and failing to pay minimum wage.

He also faces two charges of obtaining by deception by altering the original terms of an employment agreement to reduce pay rates.

One court document says that between November 2020 and June 2022 the man is accused of employing at least five people before their visas were approved.

INZ national manager of investigations Jason Perry earlier told RNZ the charges related to the alleged exploitation of 11 people.

“Trafficking in persons and migrant exploitation are serious offences that can have a significant impact on victims. INZ is committed to identifying, investigating and prosecuting this offending where there is sufficient evidence to do so.”

Perry said the charges followed a “complex investigation” by INZ’s immigration compliance and investigations team.

“As the matter is now before the courts, we are unable to make any further comment on the allegations, evidence, or the defendant at this time.

“INZ encourages anyone who suspects migrant exploitation or trafficking in persons offences being committed to report it so it can be assessed and investigated.”

rnz

When a truck pulled out in front of an elderly couple driving on a semi-rural road, the 83-year-old driver mistakenly put his foot on the accelerator instead of the brake, colliding with the truck’s rear and killing them both.

After Peter and Eileen Field died, it was discovered a doctor had assessed Peter as fit to continue driving, subject to the condition that his fitness to drive be reassessed in one year.

However, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) renewed his licence for two years.

In findings made earlier this year, Coroner Erin Woolley recommended NZTA contact health practitioners to discuss concerns in future.

Her findings followed a criminal trial in March last year, where a judge found truck driver Arvind Sharma not guilty of careless driving causing death.

A summary of the findings was published last week in the latest Coroners Court Recommendations Recap, which contains coronial recommendations and comments.

Coroner Woolley outlined that on the afternoon of 13 March 2023, the Fields were in their Toyota Aqua travelling along Fred Taylor Drive in Westgate, West Auckland.

At the same time, Sharma was driving a large truck and trailer unit on Dunlop Rd, waiting to turn right on to Fred Taylor Drive – a busy semi-rural road with an 80km/h speed limit.

He turned right in front of the couple’s car, which collided with the truck’s rear.

Peter Field died at the scene from severe traumatic chest injuries, and his wife died hours later in Auckland City Hospital from multiple injuries.

The Police Serious Crash Unit (SCU) later found that dashcam footage from a vehicle travelling behind the Fields had recorded the crash.

A scene examination confirmed that rather than braking, Field had put his foot on the accelerator.

The findings recorded that the SCU said if the couple’s car had continued at the same speed, the crash “may have” still happened. However, if Peter Field had braked, it “would not have”.

The coroner detailed other findings by the SCU that may have contributed to the crash, including that Peter Field was on “several” medications that could have impaired his driving.

The SCU also noted, the findings said, that his family reported an earlier driving incident in which he misjudged the distance in his garage and may have confused the brake for the accelerator, bumping into a wall.

They had spoken about it as a family, including whether he should still be driving, but found it hard to bring up because of his “proud demeanour”, the findings stated.

The design of Fred Taylor Drive was also under scrutiny, and at the time of the SCU’s investigation Auckland Transport advised that the speed limit should be lower, the road widened and traffic lights

installed at the intersection.

During the criminal trial, it was heard that Peter Field had seen a doctor for his driving medical in July 2021, where the doctor found his fitness was “borderline”.

On the medical certificate submitted to the NZTA for the licence renewal, the doctor ticked the option: “I recommend the applicant’s licence be subject to the following conditions:” and wrote: “Review 1 year”.

The coroner said in this case, the NZTA decided it “wasn’t appropriate” to review the licence because the doctor had not listed specific conditions or concerns on the certificate.

Coroner Woolley recommended that health practitioners clearly detail their concerns on medical certificates when assessing the fitness of drivers aged over 75.

She said the medical certificate “obviously implied” that Peter Field’s driving ability should be reassessed in a year and that in future, the NZTA should still contact the doctor, even when there are no specific conditions listed.

The NZTA’s response, recorded in the findings, listed several reasons why it wouldn’t contact the medical practitioner if no specific medical concerns or conditions were listed.

This included its view that it reviewed a “high volume” of medical certificates every year and that health practitioners were obligated to tell the NZTA when a patient who was likely to drive was unfit.

Coroner Woolley “remained concerned” that details written into medical certificates such as Peter Field’s would not trigger contact between the NZTA and doctors.

She recommended the NZTA contact medical practitioners in similar situations.

Meanwhile, an Auckland Transport spokesperson told NZME they were finalising the process to install a 50km/h speed limit on Fred Taylor Drive and a temporary limit was in place.

They said the next stage in the continuation of “four laning” the road was planned to restart mid-2027 pending “land acquisition”.

* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.

Source: RNZ & NZ Herald