Police cancel search for two fishermen

Press, 19 July 1989, Page 7

Police cancel search for two fishermen

PA Napier A sea search for two men missing near the port of Napier has been abandoned and the police say they are mystified by their disappearance. After six days of searching, the only traces of the 8m cabin boat Dee Bee and two fishermen, Marty Martinussen and Neil Clarke, has been four buoys washed ashore. The police search and rescue controller, SeniorSergeant Graeme Sawyer, said yesterday the unusual aspect was that searchers had not found anything apart from the buoys. Divers searched in relatively shallow but murky waters near the town and Pania reefs ,on Monday before the search was finally called off. Search teams will make shore searches today. The two men put to sea late last Tuesday, heading for craypots near the reefs. Conditions at the time were not good.

A search began the next day after a car belonging to one of the men was found parked alongside the vacant berth. The missing boat owner’s wife, Mrs Paula Martinussen, said yesterday she believed it was too early to abandon the search and wanted the case to remain open so ships at sea would'remain on lookout for the missing boat. “We’re all holding out hopes,” she said. “I couldn’t rest until I found out for sure.” The police say the men are missing, presumed drowned. But Mrs Martinussen and Mrs Diane Clarke said they were convinced the pair made for the open sea when the storm blew up. They fear the pair might be drifting after running out of fuel. The discovery of the two buoys from the Dee Bee was not an indication the boat had gone down.