Qld: Daughters join search for missing yachtsmen

AAP General News (Australia)
04-30-2007
Qld: Daughters join search for missing yachtsmen

By Drew Cratchley

BRISBANE, April 30 AAP - The families of three sailors missing from a yacht in bizarre
circumstances off the Queensland coast still cling to hope and plan to go on searching
for at least another week.

Three of the sailors' daughters tonight were en route from Perth to Townsville to join
other family members in the search for their fathers.

There has been no sign of skipper Derek Batten and brothers Peter and James Tunstead,
all from Perth, since their catamaran Kaz II was found adrift 160km north-east of Townsville
on April 18.

They had left Airlie Beach's Shute Harbour headed for Perth.

When their yacht was discovered, computers were still running, food was on the table,
safety equipment was still on board and there was no indication of how the men disappeared.

The authorities stopped searching a week ago, but nine family members - sons of the
missing men and nephews - have continued to look, spending tens of thousands of dollars
hiring planes, helicopters and boats to scour nearby islands.

Mr Batten's niece, Hope Himing, said in Perth today the daughters would replace three
members of the search team who would return home to Perth at the end of the week.

"The whole team is obviously exhausted, because they've been searching from sun-up
to sun-down," Ms Himing told AAP.

"Three guys are having to come back for work, but three of the daughters are flying
over to Townsville at the moment to join the search, and it's been decided that the search
is going to continue up to the end of the weekend."

Meanwhile, other family members in Perth were also considering joining the search, she said.

"Nobody has given up believing that there's a chance that they could be found," Ms Himing said.

In a meeting with Townsville police this afternoon, members of the private search party
were informed they must carry on looking alone.

"They told us unless they find anything of significance they won't be doing anything
on their side," James Tunstead's son Shane told ABC Radio.

In recent days the search effort has focused on a stretch of coastland unreachable
by car, Ms Himing said, around Gloucester Island, south of Townsville.

Walking groups have been scouring mangroves in the hope the sailors had washed up on the coast.

AAP dmc/it/cdh

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