Air Forces help search for missing sailors off coast of Chatham Islands

On Saturday morning, a yacht sailing from Whangarei to Easter Island and then South America made a distress call about 1000nm east of the Chatham Islands. In response, the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and two cargo ships searched for the missing vessel.

An RNZAF P-8A Poseidon aircraft | Photo: Noah Stohr-Waldren

Maritime NZ’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ) was leading the search for the missing yacht. It was working closely with its counterpart the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRRC).

During the search, four military aircraft and two nearby cargo ships were involved.

The RNZAF responded with a C130J Hercules (NZ7013) which began searching for the yacht on Saturday morning with the “Kiwi Rescue” (KRC) mission lasting almost 13 hours. The flight took off from RNZAF Base Auckland (Whenuapai) and ended in Wellington.

The RNZAF also used two P-8A Poseidons in the search. NZ4801 repositioned from RNZAF Base Ohakea to Christchurch on Sunday morning before joining the search later that day, flying for close to 10 hours and landing back in Ohakea.

Finally, NZ4802 flew from Ohakea to Christchurch before operating its KRC mission on Monday late into the evening, lasting just over nine hours before arriving back in Ohakea.

The RAAF joined the hunt using one P-8A Poseidon, A47-004. The jet flew from RAAF Base Edinburgh to Auckland on Saturday afternoon before beginning its first rescue (RSCU) mission that evening, lasting over eight hours and eventually arriving in Ohakea. The same aircraft flew another RSCU flight on Monday morning (via Christchurch) with the flight lasting nine and a half hours, ending in Ohakea. The jet then flew back to Edinburgh on Tuesday night.

Also searching for the missing yacht was two nearby cargo ships, GNG Concord 1 and the Tai Knowledge. Both ships continued the voyages after the search on Monday.

One of the RNZAFs P-8s with its bomb-bay open | Photo: Noah Stohr-Waldren

“The New Zealand and Australian defence forces have made specialist aircraft and experienced crew available to us, and cargo ships have responded, diverting large distances from their courses, travelling through rough seas to join the search,” said Justin Allan, the general manager for the RCCNZ and safety systems, said.

After sending the distress call on Saturday, officials have been unable to contact the vessel or its crew.

On Tuesday, search efforts were reassessed after no sign of the missing yacht was found.

“This is a very hard time of uncertainty and stress for the families of the crew and our thoughts are with them,” said Allan.