A life raft and squab belonging to the missing yacht, Munetra, have washed up on the southern end of Stewart Island.
Local fishermen found the life raft washed up at Flour Cask Bay on the southern end of Stewart Island late on Friday night.
The raft was taken to Bluff where police inquiries verified that it was from Munetra.
The families of the three missing people believed to be on the yacht that the life raft had been found.
In addition to the life raft a squab, which has since been identified as also belonging to the Munetra, was found by a local resident at Paihia yesterday afternoon in an area on the south coast beyond Colac Bay.
This afternoon about 15 LandSAR volunteers and police personnel are scouring an area of the South Island's southern coastline from Colac Bay to Rowellanburn west of Tuatapere for any further signs of the missing yacht.
The search, which began around low tide at 1pm, is being conducted on foot and using four-wheel motorbikes.
Police have kept the families of the three people missing on the Muntera fully briefed of the latest developments.
The three people missing on Munetra are Lea Tietz and Veronika Steudler, both aged 19, and the skipper Andre Kinzler, aged 33.
Members of Ms Tietz and Ms Steudler's families arrived in Invercargill over the weekend.
