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NZEALAND-FIJI-KIRIBATI-MARITIME-SEARCH-ACCIDENT
Search for more survivors from sunken ferry resumes in Pacific
WELLINGTON, Jan 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The search for survivors from a ferry
which sank with 50 people aboard in the remote Pacific resumed Monday, with
rescuers saying they remained optimistic as they comb an area larger than
Italy.
A New Zealand Air Force Orion plane located seven survivors drifting in a
dinghy late Sunday after the sinking of the MV Butiraoi, which set off from
the island nation of Kiribati on January 18.
NZDF Air Commodore Darryn Webb said a nearby fishing vessel had safely
picked up the survivors and the focus had turned to finding more passengers
from the stricken ferry.
“There’s a thought that there could be a liferaft with other survivors on
it… we remain optimistic that we may find more survivors,” he told Radio
New Zealand.
Webb said rescuers were searching a “huge” 315,000 square kilometre
(122,000 sq mile) area.
He said the Orion’s crew were determining where to look by working on the
assumption any liferaft would have been drifting for about a week.
“With those details it should allow the P-3 Orion to pinpoint with greater
accuracy the next location to search,” he said.
The Butiraoi was last heard from on January 18 when it left Nonouti on a
250-kilometre (155-mile) trip to Betio, the largest township of Kiribati’s
capital city, South Tarawa.
Local authorities said the 17.5-metre wooden catamaran ran aground and
underwent repairs to its propeller shaft before it left Nonouti.
New Zealand sent a military aircraft to conduct sweeps of the area after
being called in to help late Friday by Fiji authorities who are coordinating
the search.
Kiribati, a nation of 33 atolls and reefs with a total population of about
110,000, lies some 3,460 kilometres northeast of Fiji.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0849 hrs