Missing Kiribati fishermen found after four days

The New Zealand Defence Force has found three Kiribati fishermen who have been missing for four days in the Pacific Ocean.

The New Zealand Defence Force has found three Kiribati fishermen who have been missing for four days in the Pacific Ocean.

Air Commodore Darryn Webb, the Air Component Commander, said crew from a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion aircraft spotted the men shortly after starting their second day of searches west of Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati.

"Search and rescue missions aim to save lives, so we are pleased to achieve another successful outcome," Webb said.

"While this brings relief to the men and their families, we hope that this incident reinforces our long-standing message about the importance of having communications and emergency equipment and supplies on private fishing vessels."

The Orion had dropped a radio and bottles of water to the men and passed on their boat's location to a local patrol boat, which was also involved in the search.

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A NZDF spokesperson said the men were found about 300km southwest of Betio Island and appeared to be in good spirits.

The men were last seen leaving on a five-metre boat at 6am on October 14, from Betio Island, the largest township of Kiribati's capital city, South Tarawa.

The men, who had been due home on Saturday afternoon, had no emergency equipment or supplies.

The Orion, which was tasked to conduct a fisheries patrol north of NZ, was reassigned on Tuesday to search for the fishermen following a request from the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ).

Webb said the search area had been expanded to 48,000 square kilometres in consultation with RCCNZ, from 30,000 the square kilometres searched on Tuesday.

It is NZDF's second successful search and rescue operation in two weeks.

The NZDF flew 234 hours on 19 search and rescue missions in NZ and the Pacific in 2016, up 59 per cent from the 147 flying hours recorded the previous year.

Since January this year, it has flown 70 hours on six search and rescue missions.