Six adults and an unconscious baby were yesterday rescued from a life raft in the Pacific Ocean after drifting for four days in the blazing sun without water. The survivors had scrambled onto the small wooden dinghy after the ferry that they were aboard sank, authorities said.
The crew on a military Orion aircraft had used radar to locate the dinghy while searching for survivors, New Zealand Defence Force Air Commodore Darryn Webb said, adding that the ferry had been carrying at least 50 people while traveling between two islands in the remote nation of Kiribati.
There has been no sign of other survivors and it was unclear what caused the boat to sink, Webb said.
The aircraft dropped supplies to the survivors including food, water and a radio, which they used to tell rescuers that they had gotten off the ferry when it capsized and climbed aboard the dinghy, Webb said.
The survivors had very little time to react and found themselves adrift without water or an engine, Webb said, adding that they did have a blanket or tarpaulin, which they might have been able to use to get some relief from the sun.
A fishing boat had changed its course and yesterday afternoon picked up the survivors, Webb said, adding that the dinghy was drifting more than 180km from the nearest major island when it was found.
While thankful that the raft was found, Webb said it was also heartbreaking that the ferry had sunk and the others were still missing.
Questions remain as to why it took Kiribati authorities so long to tell New Zealand officials that the ferry was missing.
A Kiribati aircraft had earlier searched for the ferry, but lacked the right equipment, Webb said.
The 17.5m wooden catamaran MV Butiraoi left Nonouti Island bound for South Tarawa on Jan. 18 on a journey that was supposed to take two days, authorities said.
New Zealand rescuers said they were not told about the missing boat until Friday, eight days after the ferry had left.
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