Rescuers looking for a Norwegian yacht with a crew of three missing in the freezing waters of the Ross Sea in the Antarctic had their hopes raised then swiftly dashed today when they found a liferaft.
But the empty liferaft was not from the yacht, but found to have come from the navy offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Wellington when pulled aboard the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin today.
The Wellington was the first vessel to begin searching for the 14m steel yacht Berserk after its emergency beacon was activated on Tuesday night.
Steve Irwin captain Paul Watson told NZPA today conditions were very cold but the sea was relatively good for searching.
His ship was sent to the area by the National Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre (NZRCC) in Wellington and began a helicopter search about 8am today.
The liferaft was found in the search area, but it was one of three believed to have been lost overboard from HMNZS Wellington before it was released from the search because of the extreme sea and weather conditions.
The yacht was believed to have dropped two crew on land to make a trek down to the South Pole and was thought to have three crew members on board, including skipper Jarle Andhoey, 34, an experienced skipper.
Mr Watson said the ship had been trying to contact the yacht on the emergency VHF channel 16 but had had no response.
The missing yacht's distress beacon had stopped transmitting.
Mr Watson said he had met the yacht's skipper, who was very experienced.
"He is a survivor. If anybody can get through it he can. So there is a couple of things that could happen. They could be on shore because they are not far from shore, or they could still be with the boat," he said.
He said if they had made it to shore making contact could be difficult.
