Search for crew from yacht wrecked off Tonga 4

DATE: 17 June 2012
TIME: 8am

Search for crew from yacht wrecked off Tonga 4

A land-based search of the island of Late, west of the island of Vava’u, Tonga, for two men missing since their yacht was wrecked on Thursday, will take place tomorrow, the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) says.

Two full days of aerial and on-water searching have so far failed to locate the two Australian men, both in their sixties, who reported via a satellite phone call to a relative in Victoria, Australia, that they had run aground and their 50ft Bavaria yacht, Navillus, was breaking up.

An emergency locator beacon was activated at the same time, around 10.30pm on Thursday.

The yacht’s wreckage was found the next day but extensive on-water searching following drift modelling undertaken by RCCNZ, as well as an aerial search of over 191 square nautical miles by a RNZAF P3 Orion failed to find the men.

Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator John Dickson said today that RCCNZ was in the process of coordinating with local Police to arrange a land-based search party to cover the island of Late to check whether the men had come ashore.

There were no vessels available to take a search party across to the island from Vava’u today, so the search would start at first light tomorrow.

“Crew members from the search vessels have already landed on Late to check the most likely landing points for signs of the men coming ashore,” Mr Dickson said.

“However, we want a grid-search of the island undertaken so we can state with absolute confidence that the island has been comprehensively covered.”

The Police in Victoria are coordinating contact with the next of kin.

RCCNZ will not release the names of those involved.

A further update will be provided tomorrow (Monday) around 8am.

ENDS

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