The New Zealand air force today resumed its hunt for 29 fishermen after the charred remains of their boat was found abandoned near the South Pacific island nation of Kiribati.
After resting in Samoa overnight, the crew of an air force P-3K2 Orion aircraft this morning continued its search of some 54,000 sq km of ocean.
Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ) spokesman Ross Henderson said the crew yesterday covered around 30 percent of the search area.
The fishermen were missing from a Taiwanese long line boat, the Ta Ching 21, found by a Korean fishing boat burnt out but still afloat near the Phoenix Islands on Kiribati on November 9.
A search of the boat showed three liferafts and a rescue boat were missing, and the air force said it hoped the 29 crew had abandoned ship in the life rafts.
But today there had been no sign of the missing liferafts or crew thought to be made up of Taiwanese, Chinese, Phillipino and Indonesian nationals.
Mr Henderson said the RCCNZ received a formal request from its equivalent in Taipei to assist in the search, and was working with the air force.
The Rescue Coordination Centre in Nadi, Fiji, had overall control of the incident as it was within their search and rescue region.
The last transmission from the boat was on October 28 and the New Zealand air force was notified on November 17.
A US Air Force plane searched the area on November 12 without success.
The Orion and crew are expected to return to New Zealand on Saturday.
New Zealand air force spokesman Glenn Davis said yesterday that given the limited information available the chances of finding the missing fishermen were "slim".
"To be honest, we don't even know they're in the rafts or what happened," he told Radio New Zealand.
"We're still hopeful - but it's a big ocean and small life rafts, unfortunately."
