DATE: 6 July 2013 TIME: 11:00am

Search for missing schooner suspended

The search for an American schooner missing en route from New Zealand to Australia has been formally suspended, after 12 days of searching found no sign of the vessel or its crew.

The 21m (70ft) Nina, sailing from Opua in the Bay of Islands to Newcastle with seven people on board, has not been heard from since 4 June.

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) started a communications search on 14 June to broadcast alerts of the vessel and others in the area, and instigated aerial searches after the vessel failed to arrive in Australia as expected. A Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion covered about 737,000 square nautical miles (an area about eight times the size of New Zealand) in the search. There were also shoreline searches by fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.

RCCNZ’s Operations Manager, John Seward, said the search effort had comprehensively covered all areas where the vessel or its crew could reasonably have been expected to be found. “The search has been extremely thorough and we are confident that had the yacht or liferaft been within those search areas, we would have found them,” he said.

“For this reason, after carefully reviewing all of the information gathered over the last month, and in the absence of any further developments, the Director of Maritime New Zealand has accepted the recommendation to formally suspend the search.

“This difficult decision has not been made lightly, and we are obviously disappointed that we have not found Nina’s crew,” said Mr Seward. “However, we have had to conclude there is nothing more we can do at this stage.”

RCCNZ has been in contact with the crew’s friends and family, who provided useful background information to assist with the search. “RCCNZ and all those involved in the search operation pass on our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the missing crew,” said Mr Seward.

He said the suspension means the search will be stood down unless any new information comes to light. However, broadcasts over Maritime Radio will remain in place, advising that the Nina is missing and asking other vessels to report any sightings. “It is possible the search could be reactivated, if any significant new information comes to light.”

Mr Seward thanked the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Phillips Search and Rescue Trust for the many hours they had spent searching for the yacht.

Background

The schooner Nina, built in 1928, left Opua on 29 May with seven people on board (six American men aged 17, 28 and 58, three American women aged 18, 60 and 73, and a British man aged 35) and was last heard from on 4 June, when the vessel was about 370 nautical miles west-north-west of Cape Reinga. Records show that conditions at the vessel’s last known position were very rough, with winds of 80kmh gusting to 110kmh and swells of up to 8m.

The vessel was equipped with a satellite phone, a Spot satellite personal tracking device which allows regular tracking signals to be sent manually, and an emergency beacon. The emergency beacon was not activated.

Search summary

4 July
The RNZAF P3 Orion conducted a radar search of an area of 120,745 square nautical miles extending as far west as the Middleton and Elizabeth reefs in the Tasman Sea.

2 July
A visual and radar search south of Norfolk Island, covering approximately 2,100 square nautical miles, conducted by the P3 Orion.

1 July
A visual and radar search of approximately 3,780 square nautical miles north of North Cape, conducted by the P3 Orion.

30 June
An extensive visual and radar search by the P3 Orion of 4,830 square nautical miles north-east of Northland.

29 June
A helicopter undertook an extended shoreline search for a liferaft and crew, from Port Waikato to New Plymouth.

28 June
A twin-engine fixed-wing aircraft was tasked to search the shoreline and coast, starting at Tauroa Point, along Ninety Mile Beach, north of Northland and out to and around the Three Kings Islands.

26 June
A radar search was completed of 324,000 square nautical miles between northern New Zealand and the Australian coast, based on the vessel suffering damage but continuing to make progress towards Australia.

25 June
An RNZAF P3 Orion conducted a radar sweep of 141,000 square nautical miles while transiting from the Cook Islands (returning from an earlier search and rescue mission) to the defined search area of 140,000 square nautical miles, to the immediate north-north-east of New Zealand, based on the vessel being disabled and drifting.

14 June
RCCNZ instigated a communications search, using a range of communications methods to broadcast alerts to the vessel and others in the area.

ENDS

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