2 Jul 2013

Bad weather halts search for schooner

9:39 pm on 2 July 2013

The search for a boat missing off New Zealand with seven people on board is unlikely to resume for at least two days due to bad weather.

The crew of the 21-metre Nina, which went missing en route from Opua in the Bay of Islands to Newcastle, Australia, was last heard from on 4 June. Six Americans and a Briton were on board the wooden schooner.

An Air Force P3 Orion searched two areas south of Norfolk Island from 6am on Tuesday, but the mission coordinator for the Rescue Coordination Centre said there had been no sign of the boat or its life raft.

Dave Wilson said staff would look over data collected and decide what the next step should be.