No word from boat for two weeks

Searchers last night failed to find a fishing boat that left Nelson two weeks ago with three people aboard and has not been heard from since.

The owner of the 13m Mi Jay contacted the Rescue Co-ordination Centre yesterday after the crew failed to respond to broadcast messages.

The boat was expected to be fishing off Canterbury, arriving back within two weeks.

An Air Force Orion searched from Banks Peninsula to Castlepoint for four hours yesterday, covering 90,000sq km, without success.