23 May 2014

Not a good sign

The BBC has an article by Nick Bryant about the Cheeki Rafiki:
The hull of the missing UK yacht Cheeki Rafiki has been found in the North Atlantic ocean by a US Navy warship, the US Coast Guard has said. A surface swimmer identified the name on the back of the boat, but was unable to go inside. The swimmer knocked on the hull but there was no response. It is unclear whether the yacht's life raft had been deployed.
The four-strong crew were returning to the UK from Antigua when it hit problems on 15 May 2014. They are Paul Goslin, 56, from West Camel, Somerset; Steve Warren, 52, from Bridgwater, Somerset; skipper Andrew Bridge, 22, from Farnham, Surrey; and 22-year-old James Male, from Romsey, Hampshire. Male, BridgeWarren, and Goslin are all experienced yachtsmen
Last Thursday, the sailors contacted the yacht's owner to say they were taking on water and diverting to the Azores. Contact was lost the following day, and it is thought the yacht may have capsized. Locator beacons activated by the crew indicated they were in a position a thousand miles east of Massachusetts on the morning of 16 May 2014.
The Coast Guard said a warship helicopter crew located the hull a thousand miles from Massachusetts. The warship was diverted and a boat crew sent to examine the boat.
They found the cabin of the yacht was flooded and the windows shattered. The yacht's keel was also broken, causing a breach in the hull, a spokesman added. They now expect to find the rest of the vessel soon, the spokesman added.
A friend of the family of James Male, one of the crew, told the BBC they were aware of the latest development but remained optimistic that he may still be alive.
line
A twelve-person life raft, such as that on board the Cheeki Rafiki, is required to meet the international standard ISO 9650, which stipulates how the craft must be constructed and what it must have on board. The rafts are highly visible and buoyant and can be boarded quickly in an emergency.
One man is known to have survived 133 days on a raft after ship was torpedoed by a U-boat in 1942, and experts have said that the warmer water, the better chance of survival
The water where the Cheeki Rafiki is understood to have encountered trouble is believed to be about 15C.
Following the discovery of the hull, the Coast Guard said the search for the yacht was still set to end by Friday night. A statement from the Coast Guard said: "The hull sighting has not impacted search planning, as teams continue to look for a bright-colored life raft as their search object. "
Two US planes and two boats have been sent out again, along with an RAF Hercules plane, which are set to keep looking for the Cheeki Rafiki on Saturday.
Speaking after a meeting with officials at the Foreign Office in London, England, the families of the men said they were staying strong. "Although the search at some point is going to be suspended... it is still happening. We have got to stay positive to that. We know our boys are out there," said Male's father, Graham.
The Coast Guard official overseeing the search, Captain Anthony Popiel, said he had spoken to the yachtsmen's families to tell them the search could be suspended. "If by midnight tomorrow there are no further developments to indicate search efforts would locate the crew alive, we will suspend the search," he said. He added that he had "sincere compassion" for the families of the four men, and that his "thoughts and prayers" were with them.
The Foreign Office said the British Hercules C-130 plane would continue scouring the search area "for one more day" on Saturday. "They will be co-ordinating closely with the Coast Guard on the search area," it said. It said the US had "gone above and beyond" in its effort to locate the yacht and its British crew.
The plane, which is operating from Portugal's Azores islands in the Atlantic, was expected to end its search at about 22:00 BST on Saturday, the Foreign Office added.
It is understood it will probably fly two search missions on Saturday, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
The decision to resume the search followed an official request from the UK government. An online petition, set up to put pressure on the Coast Guard, had attracted more than two hundred thousand signatures.
Rico says he's not very hopeful, but that's the risk of this sort of thing...

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