The search for four crew members of a supply tug that went missing on the KwaZulu-Natal coast last week will continue indefinitely, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said on Monday.
”We’re not speculating that the crew may have drowned. We’ll continue searching for them indefinitely,” said NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon.
The Hawk was scheduled to stop at East London harbour on Friday, but never reached its destination. One of its life jackets was found on Sunday.
Said Lambinon: ”A charter ship which was five nautical miles from Port Shepstone recovered the life jacket and we are now concentrating our search in that area.”
An empty raft, also believed to be from the tug, was found at nearby Shelly Beach on Friday.
The owner of the tug said he believes the ship could have been run over by a bigger ship or that a ”south-west buster [wind]” could have capsized it.
Godfrey Neaden said he last had contact with the vessel on Wednesday. He said the crew did not use cellular communication or the ship’s radar transformers to send a distress signal.
”[They] would have illuminated on any ships or radar screens in the area … but none of those were used,” he said.
The 16m-long boat was en route from Richards Bay to Cape Town. — Sapa