Search for yacht called off

2005-09-20 22:31

Durban - The search for the Durban yacht, Moquini, which went missing during a race last week will end on Tuesday night, the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre said.

"Depending on what the outcome of the search is tonight, we have reached the end of what we want to do," said Jacques Smit, the Cape Town-based centre's search mission co-ordinator.

He said their aircraft, an Air Force Hercules C130, had searched the area from Durban north up to Ponta do Ouro on the Mozambican coast on Tuesday and would return to Durban by the end of the day.

Smit said the race organisers had set up a fund for private aircraft to take part in the search and had also negotiated with the air force to use their aircraft for one more day.

"They have a specific area they want us to search on Wednesday," said Smit.

The Moquini went missing while taking part in a Mauritius to Durban race last week and an emergency signal from the vessel was picked up on Friday.

Race organiser Dave Claxton said it was a traumatic time for the families of skipper Graham Cochrane and his crew of Sheldon Dickerson, Mark Dickerson, Kurt Ostendorf, Neil Tocknell and teenager Michael Goolam.

Claxton said: "We've tried to get the best possible minds together to plot where these people could possibly be. We also heard that the air force might call off the search which is why we initiated a private project."

* The Royal Natal Yacht Club Moquini Fund has a Standard Bank Durban account, number 050279890.

- SAPA