24 Mar 2004

New Caledonian shipwreck mystery solved

5:26 am on 24 March 2004

It has been established that the wreck of an Asian fishing vessel that was found in New Caledonia last week is of a boat that hit a reef off Fiji nearly three years ago.

Fishermen off New Caledonia's Mare island had discovered the wreck of the Zhong I which led to speculation that the crew was lost during last month's Cyclone Ivy.

But the French high commission in Noumea says Taiwan has confirmed that the fishing boat in question hit a reef 500 kilometres south of Suva on August the 23rd 2001 and that the crew was then rescued by the Tongan navy.