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Townsville, Australia  Sat 21 April Local Time

A crew is still missing after Australian Government Coastwatch Customs aircraft located a catamaran drifting near Townsville.

The Great Barrier Reef is huge. It runs North to South over 1000's of kilometers. In places it is 100 kilometers wide. This week a yacht was located by a surveillance plane on a routine patrol of the Australian Economic Zone.

The Australian Government regularly patrols its waters using military and civilian patrol aircraft.

This week one patrol located a vessel on the outer edge of the reef East of Townsville.

The vessel failed to answer radio messages and no crew were seen on the deck or in boats nearby causing the crew to call in rotary aircraft to inspect the yacht.  On inspection, the boat was found to be crew less.

Personal effects were on board giving authorities cause to believe that the crew left unintentionally.

Around the world the press are referring to the vessel as a "ghost ship". The reality is that it is not a romantic sea story. It is a story of survival or death at sea in a remote part of the world.

The currents move East and West with the tide and simultaneously North and South with the Pacific Ocean flows making the task of backtracking the vessels movements impossible.

The crew may be on a coral cay or drifting in a dinghy. They may be dead having drowned in an accident that may not ever be explained.

For now the search is taking place over 1000's of square kilometers of ocean.

Update 22 April Police now beleive tht the crew of the yacht were washed overboardd during a sudden squall.  Police believe skipper Des Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, aged 69 and 63, all from Perth, went missing from their 9.8m catamaran, KAZ II, last Sunday.

Update April 25
Ghost yacht 'kidnapping' theory
The Kaz II (Image: Queensland police)
The yacht was found drifting 150km (95 miles) offshore
Relatives of one of three sailors missing from an abandoned yacht found drifting off Australia's coast believe the crew may have been kidnapped.

Hope Himing, niece of skipper Derek Batten, said the circumstances around their disappearance "didn't add up".

The Kaz II was found off the Great Barrier Reef last week with its engine running and a table laid for dinner, but with no signs of any people.

Police have said the men were probably washed overboard and drowned.

Update

Family suggests tht spirituality may hold the answer

RELATIVES of the skipper of a mystery yacht found off the coast of north Queensland believe they have a spiritual link with the missing man, that he may have been kidnapped  and is still alive.

Hope Himing, niece of Derek Batten, 56, said today there were many unusual circumstances surrounding the yacht, which was found off the coast  of Townsville last Wednesday.

Ms Himing said she and her mother had both felt spiritual contact from Derek, whom they believed was still alive but fighting for his life.

"My mum and I are both Spiritualists. My mum's had a really strong feeling from Des that he's somewhere dark and he can't see and I don't feel that he's dead either," Ms Himing said.

"I don't think he's got a lot left in him but I actually don't think he's dead, and so everything we can do to get (people) out there looking again is a huge thing."

Ms Hinning believes the unusal circumstances of the floating ship suggest foul play.

Emergency service crews found the engine running, computers turned on, food on the table and the GPS system operating but no sign of the boat's crew.

"It just doesn't all add up," Ms Himing said.

"If it was bad weather why would their fishing line be out?

"Why would their clothes be piled up (and) if it was that bad that it would have knocked three experienced sailors off, why wouldn't they have put on their life-jackets?

"It just doesn't add up for us."

Ms Himing said her family dismissed police suggestions that her uncle – known to the family as "Des" – and his crew members – brothers Peter and James Tunstead, aged 69 and 63, all from Perth – were washed overboard in bad weather.

She said she strongly believed that the 9.8m catamaran, KAZ II, was boarded, and the trio may have been kidnapped.

"The fenders were out on their yacht, and the only reason you ever put them out is when another boat comes aside or if you come to rest against a wharf," she said.

"It looks like they've been boarded."

Ms Himing said she holds grave fears for the trio's safety, but believes they are still alive.

She said the families would continue to search Airlie Beach and the surrounding islands until they had closure.

Ms Himing said the families of all three crew members felt that authorities called off the search too quickly, and said James Tunstead's son, Shane Webber, had already told them he would continue his own search until he found something.

"The police have dropped interest very quickly and dropped the search ... we feel hugely let down about this," Ms Himing said.

"They've spent days longer looking for other people in situations like this, so why have they called this one off so quickly?"

Ms Himing said the lack of closure was the most painful part of the situation.

"The hardest thing for us now is waiting and not knowing," she said.

"You can deal with a bad accident (where) they've passed away because you know, but when you don't, and to have so many questions hanging over it... it's very difficult."

Queensland police said in a statement last night they would continue to keep "a watchful eye" for the three missing men.

"Despite the search being officially suspended, a Queensland Police Service aircraft will continue to monitor in an effort to locate the bodies of the missing three men," the statement said.

But police said medical advice was that the chances of survival would be "highly unlikely".

There has been no trace of the men since the vessel was found abandoned. ed
 
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