Two men are alive after the 5.5m fibreglass runabout they were aboard sank about 140m off Karewa Island today.

The stern drive powered vessel came into difficulty at about 3.30pm when the men made a mayday call across VHF radio.

TECT Rescue responded to a mayday call today.

The men jumped in the water, wearing wetsuits, and swam to a nearby boat called Mistress.

Other recreational boaties responded to the mayday call, including a boat called Extreme Sports Fishing.

Coastguard despatched the TECT Rescue boat.

The two men made it safely to Mistress and according to reports across the marine VHF radio are fit and well.

Their runabout is some 20m underwater, about five nautical miles northwest of Mount Maunganui.