The company that employed missing New Zealand diving engineer Aaron Hopa suspects he is dead - but his policeman father is heading to the Gulf determined to bring his son home alive.
Jim Hopa arrived in Singapore yesterday afternoon (New Zealand time) with a legal adviser and today theywill meet representatives of Oceaneering International.
Aaron Hopa, aged 28, of Geraldine, disappeared from the company's survey freighter Sea Bulk Hercules a week ago along with British associate Robert Glazzard. Their families believe they may have been abducted.
Mr Hopa said there had been a lack of information flowing back to New Zealand so he had decided to go to Singapore, and tomorrow to Dubai, to find out for himself what was happening.
He said he would not carry out his own investigation, but would seek a "full brief of events in absolute detail" from both the company and Dubai police.
The missing men were last seen on the upper decks of the ship during the early hours of January 10 as it headed to Dubai to avoid bad weather.
Several hours after the ship docked it was noticed they were missing.
Their personal belongings, including wallets and passports, were found in their cabins.
Jim Hopa said he suspected the pair had been abducted, perhaps for political gain, either while at sea or after the ship docked. He was angry that the company had dismissed that theory already.
The company's operations manager in Dubai, Sjur Lothe, said from Dubai last night that he found the abduction theory hard to believe. "I have no reason to believe there is anything sinister in this."
Both men were reliable, valued employees, who had worked together for several years.
The company had launched its own internal investigation, which had so far turned up nothing new, he said.
Sea and land searches had been conducted along the coasts of the United Arab Emirates and its neighbours.
