New alert brings missing total to nine off Samoa

RNZAF Orion. File picture

An air force Orion was due back in the air today to search for seven people on another missing fishing boat off Samoa.

The alert was raised overnight after the American owner of the boat said he had not heard from the vessel for 36 hours.

Two New Zealand Orions are in the area after Cyclone Olaf struck early in the week.

One of the Orions searched overnight as the Rescue Co ordination Centre in Wellington monitored 14 distress beacons in one of the busiest nights for many years.
Rescue centre spokeswoman, Heidi Brook, said 14 beacons did not mean 14 vessels were in distress because the beacons would be picked up by the satellite as it passed overhead and more than one beacon may relate to only one vessel.

The latest emergency involved a fishing vessel with seven crew aboard which was last heard from on Wednesday night when it was 130 nautical miles northeast of Samoa. It was in the path of the cyclone and Ms Brook said the American owner had not heard from the vessel.

Two others are still missing from a fishing boat which sank 150 miles north of Samoa on Wednesday. It had six people aboard but four made it into a liferaft dropped by the Orion's crew after it found them floating in the water yesterday afternoon.

Ms Brook said there were fears the two missing crew members may have gone down with the boat.

Many of the alerts came from fishing boats based in the Samoan capital, Apia, after they were hit by huge seas and 250km/h winds generated by Cyclone Olaf.

The weather was so bad the Orion could not leave until yesterday morning.

"It would not have been able to enter the area. The weather was so bad it could not even begin searching until midday," Ms Brook said.

"That is the problem with searching. If you are searching in really bad weather you can't put other people's lives at risk."

Ms Brook said the weather had improved considerably today with 40km/h winds and three-metre swells.

Overnight, a commercial vessel reached an American-registered fishing boat east of American Samoa. The crew on Princess Karlina had got the vessel going again and it was heading back to Samoa, Ms Brook said.

Another fishing boat with three injured crew members was under tow back to Apia.

Ms Brook said the New Zealand Orion would initially continue the search for the two people missing from the fishing vessel which sank but it would also search for the missing boat with seven crew aboard.

A US Hercules was also involved in the search and found the Princess Karlina. It may be used again today.

Ms Brook said the rescue centre was aware that two Australian Orions and a Royal Air Force Nimrod were at Whenuapai in Auckland for an international submarine hunting exercise.

She said it took six hours to deploy an Orion from New Zealand to the area.

If Olaf remained category five, as it was when it blasted across Samoa, it would be the highest possible cyclone rating when it hit the islands. Nancy was category 2.

In Samoa, New Zealand High Commissioner John Adank said reports from American Samoa, where he is also Consul-General, were that there was "significant" damage.

He was waiting further word from American Samoa but understood the local population of the worst-hit Manua islands had been removed to safe areas.

As American Samoa was a territory of the United States, it was unlikely New Zealand aid would be required.

Mr Meyer said Samoa was relatively unscathed from Cyclone Olaf as it had passed north of the islands.

"People are absolutely relieved that they have escaped what could have been the most devastating cyclone to hit Samoa in decades."

There had been no reports to police of significant damage in Samoa although there had been temporary power outages and water blockages.

The airport had reopened yesterday without damage.

Olaf had gusts of up to 305km/h and sent waves up to 12m high ashore.

Olaf was expected to head toward the southern Cook Islands, which had glancing blows from Cyclones Nancy and Meena in the past two weeks.

The last major hurricane to hit American Samoa and Samoa was Heta in January 2004. It damaged more than 4600 homes in American Samoa, said the American Red Cross.

It also devastated up to 90 per cent of the crops on Samoa.

- NZPA