Flare sparks search

Press, 18 August 1984, Page 8

Flare sparks search

A search-and-rescue operation is likely to resume off the Canterbury coast today after two policemen reported seeing what they believed was a flare off Godley Head last evening. The Sumner Lifeboat began the search about 7.30 p.m. and was joined by the Navy training ship H.M.N.Z.S. Kiwi about 10.30 p.m. Suggestions that the sighting off Godley Head was a meteor, reported to have been sighted in many parts of New Zealand last evening, were doubted by a Sumner Lifeboat Institute spokesman. He was confident the policemen had seen a flare. He did not discount the

possibility that people may have been “fooling around” on the beach. The search was initially concentrated inshore in the Godley Head area but then progressed north as far as the Ashley River. The Sumner Lifeboat was forced to return to Lyttelton about midnight. after it struck a surge at Scarborough and developed engine problems; The Kiwi headed four miles out to sea from the Ashley River before returning early this morning. A Christchurch police spokesman said that the main difficulty was “not knowing exactly what they were looking for.” No vessels were reported to have been overdue.