George
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« on: April 22, 2007, 01:50:46 AM » |
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Fresh clues in baffling case of missing yachtsmen
April 22, 2007
A SEARCH for three yachtsmen missing off north Queensland has been narrowed after an examination of their abandoned yacht's navigation system.
Two rescue helicopters and two volunteer marine rescue vessels are searching the coastline from Airlie Beach to Bowen after a police examination of the yacht's GPS system indicated the yacht was last steered six days ago.
The 9.8-metre catamaran, Kaz II, was towed into Townsville early on Friday after it was found abandoned about 160 kilometres off the Queensland coast last Wednesday.
Skipper Derek Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, aged 69 and 63, all from Perth, remain missing.
The men left Airlie Beach last Sunday heading for Perth across the top end of Australia.
The case has baffled rescuers, who found the yacht with its computers still running and other goods untouched, including food and utensils on the table. The yacht, which had a badly torn sail, was found with its motor still running, while the vessel's dinghy remained attached.
Police said yesterday they did not believe the catamaran had been equipped with a life raft.
Northern Region Chief Superintendent Roy Wall said it seemed the men may have run into bad weather last Sunday afternoon. "The men may have been missing from the boat some time Sunday."
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Ruth
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« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2007, 08:38:48 AM » |
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It's a clear case of alien abduction. They'll turn up on the new season of 4400.
Sorry - shouldn't make light of the fact that three men are missing. I wouldn't be so quick to jest if they were my loved ones.
Strange though, isn't it? Everything still in place on the table, computers running and dingy still there.
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« Last Edit: April 23, 2007, 01:39:13 PM by Ruth »
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If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat.
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DaDan
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Yeppers! We`be livin now!
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« Reply #2 on: April 22, 2007, 03:51:40 PM » |
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sh!t happens.... possible, while eating dinner & chatting online.... one guy fell overboard while peeing over the side & the other two were pulled in trying to throw him a life ring as the boat kept it's course. or aliens abducted them...  I have a friend that picked up two guys that had been floating for 8 winter months after their boat sank, in the central Pacific........................... |
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me pappy sayd... Once ya get past the smell... ...  ... `You got it licked... |
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Con ate dog
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« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2007, 07:17:32 AM » |
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I'm sure their kidneys will turn up inside some Chinese sailors.
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And there is no liar like the indignant man... -Nietszche
Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. -William James
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Lone Traveller
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« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2007, 11:36:28 AM » |
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Oh dear. Maybe I should cancel my lung transplant.  All jokes aside though........... What the hell??? |
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Courage is not the absense of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.
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George
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« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2007, 11:38:12 AM » |
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Strangely enough, a second abandoned yacht was found today, although the story is this one may have been washed from moorings months ago.
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Lone Traveller
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« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2007, 11:43:08 AM » |
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Very suspicious.
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Courage is not the absense of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.
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Vegemite
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« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2007, 03:10:18 AM » |
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Another strange (but sad) story - a boat sunk near my little home last night, two children drowned, trapped in the boat...but when they went to recover the bodies they found three. A third one, unrelated to the accident, floating nearby. Someone who had apparently been dead for several days...
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"I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich"
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Lone Traveller
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« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2007, 06:32:06 AM » |
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That's so sad. Poor little kiddies. Why weren't they being supervised?
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Courage is not the absense of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.
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Vegemite
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« Reply #9 on: April 25, 2007, 03:34:01 PM » |
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That's so sad. Poor little kiddies. Why weren't they being supervised?
They were being supervised, but apparently they got stuck in the cabin when the boat went down, it was 2am at night.The poor parents... But then the stranger than fiction part is the accidental finding of another body next to the boat... |
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"I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich"
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Vegemite
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« Reply #10 on: April 25, 2007, 03:36:25 PM » |
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And here's the beginning of one of the latest articles about the Australian boat:
Missing yachstman's family fear foul play
AAP | Wednesday, 25 April 2007
BRISBANE: Relatives of the skipper of an empty yacht found drifting off north Queensland say they believe the three missing crew members are alive, but in danger.
Hope Himing, niece of Derek Batten, 56, said yesterday she and her mother have had "spiritual contact" from her uncle
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"I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich"
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Mr Nobody
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« Reply #11 on: April 25, 2007, 03:37:04 PM » |
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Deary deary me.
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Just another roadkill on the information superhighway.
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Lone Traveller
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« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2007, 06:22:01 AM » |
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Courage is not the absense of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.
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NateM
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« Reply #13 on: April 28, 2007, 03:21:06 AM » |
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That's so sad. Poor little kiddies. Why weren't they being supervised?
They were being supervised, but apparently they got stuck in the cabin when the boat went down, it was 2am at night.The poor parents... But then the stranger than fiction part is the accidental finding of another body next to the boat... Any news on that other body? Foul play, or an accident? |
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Vegemite
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« Reply #14 on: April 28, 2007, 04:56:41 AM » |
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Still not identified...no ideas as to how she ended up there and who she is...the children's funeral is today.
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"I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich"
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