The search for a banana boat that went missing in Papua New Guinea waters two weeks ago has been turned over to the National Maritime Safety Authority on the presumption that the vessel's drifted into open water.
The boat, carrying nine people, fuel and goods, left Siassi Island in Morobe Province on July the 13th but never reached its destination of Sagsag in West New Britain three hours across the Dampier Strait.
The acting director of the Morobe diasaster management office, Charlie Masange, says the authority will have passed the information onto search and rescue agencies as well as passing ships.
He says he's not heard back from his counterparts in neighbouring provinces but in any case they can't search the open seas.
"Because we've got those small 23-foot thunderboats, they are too small for us to go out in the open sea. We will rely heavily on those big ships, container ships and all this that travel through to other provinces and out to overseas. They can be able to spot them and they can pick them up."
The acting director of the Morobe diasaster management office, Charlie Masange.
