Unofficial search fails to find chartered yacht

Press, 25 July 1985, Page 1

Unofficial search fails to find chartered yacht

PA Auckland Unofficial checks by the French authorities have indicated that the yacht Ouvea is not within the 200-mile zone around New Caledonia.

The $lOO,OOO charter vessel could be “gone,” Mr Roger Chatelain, the manager for the yacht’s owner, Noumea Yacht Charters, said yesterday. The yacht has not been heard from since 6.20 a.m. last Sunday when the crew of three Frenchmen said she was about 30 miles northwest of the He des Pins. She was last sighted at Norfolk Island on July 16. The Ouvea, which was in Northland waters until she sailed from Whangarei to Norfolk Island on July 9, was pursued to Norfolk by Auckland police investigating the fatal bombing of the

Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior on July 10. Three New Zealand detectives are in Noumea checking the vessel’s background. The officer in charge of the case, Detective Superintendent Allan Galbraith, said that they had completed inquiries into the hiring of the Ouvea and would return home soon. Although the Ouvea had been chartered until last Saturday, Mr Chatelain said he approached the authorities in Noumea yesterday to check for reported sightings. He was told that the crews of Guardian surveillance aircraft had been

keeping an unofficial lookout for the yacht. They had not sighted it, he said, and they believed that they would have done so if it were inside the zone. Mr Galbraith said that there might be some innocent explanation for the yacht’s failure to turn up. When the Ouvea sailed from Norfolk Island after police had interviewed the crew, they radioed messages saying it was heading direct to Noumea. No official searches have been launched from New Caledonia, but Mr Chatelain on Tuesday joined a twohour aerial search which

failed to find the Ouvea anywhere near the He des Pins or south of Noumea. Auckland police have reaffirmed their interest in the Ouvea and in Whangarei the police have closely questioned a shop manager about running shoes bought there by the crew. Detectives have also interviewed yacht owners in Northland about the movements of the Ouvea and its crew early this month. More than 100 people are working in the inquiry team, made up of 66 detectives, 19 police and Navy divers, plus forensic and photographic experts.