Search for missing sailors to resume on Tuesday [1]
Monday, June 18, 2012 - 14:49. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
A named lifejacket from the missing yacht Navillus was found by searchers from
the yacht Patriot near Late Island on Friday June 15.
Photos by Bonny Stansel.
Heavy swells and uncertainties over fuel has kept search vessels in port today, but a search for two missing sailors in Vava'u is expected to resume tomorrow, Tuesday.
A question of who is going to foot the fuel bill for the continuing search and rescue opeation in Vava'u waters is expected to be resolved before then.
This morning, Monday, the Vava'u fuel terminal workers were not aware that they were supposed to be refueling two search boats, which needed around 2,500 litres of diesel each, a local search coordinator said.
"We thought it was all set up yesterday but the organizers and government people have all met again today to sort it out. It is hard for people here to understand why boats could not go out yesterday or today."
But weather conditions today with 15-18 knot winds and heavy swells in the area are also hampering the search mission.
One of the missing men has been named by Australian media, as an Adelaide sailor Ian Thomson, who is understood to be a dual Australian and British citizen.
Meanwhile, a partner of one of the two missing men, Sue Love contacted Matangi Tonga today with a plea for the search to continue. "I want anyone concerned with the search to know that the cost of fuel for the search must not be an impediment to the search continuing. I will raise the money to pay, I pledge that sincerely. I want my beloved to come home. I am beside myself with grief and fear of losing him," she said.
Debris from the Navillus is pulled from the water by searchers on Patriot, near Late Island on Friday June 15.
Debris
Debris from the missing yacht Navillus was found on June 15 in the area of Late Island where an emergency beacon was activated on Thursday night.
The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) will review conditions tomorrow (Tuesday) with a view to sending a team to search Late for the men.
RCCNZ Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator John Dickson said 3m swells continued today, making it impossible to safely land search teams.
“Conditions will be reviewed in the morning when we hope the swell will have abated,” he said.
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.
Volcanic cliffs
One of the searchers Bonny Stansel said the Patriot was about 100 yards off shore and there was a steep black cliff face. "The men would have had to be in good shape to climb up there in the dark, or to go about quarter of a mile either side of the cliff to find another landing spot," she said.