Search for crew from yacht wrecked off Tonga 9

Sixteen searchers have today been put ashore to make a land-based search of the island of Late, west of Vava'u, Tonga, for two men missing since their yacht, Navillus, was wrecked last Thursday night.

For the past two days, high seas with 3m swells have prevented searchers being landed on the island, which is largely surrounded by cliffs.

RCCNZ Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Mike Roberts said a search of the island could take two days.

“The searchers have been landed ashore and they will camp overnight if necessary," he said.

“In addition, we hope to have a vessel do a shoreline search around the island, using kayaks and dinghys, and hopefully also land people ashore. It is hoped that further attempts will be made to dive on the wreck of the more significant parts of Navillus which have already been located, to check for the presence of the yacht’s dinghy.”

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 an RNZAF P3 Orion failed to find the men.

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 issued at around 4pm, unless there are further developments prior to this.