Published 17 years ago, updated 6 years ago

New Zealand authorities will demand to know why the crew of a schooner carrying four Australians and five others failed to tell anyone they’d be late into port, sparking a massive search.

Authorities had held fears for the group, after the three-masted topsail schooner The Alvei failed to arrive in New Zealand as planned on December 1 having sailed from Vanuatu.

Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) said a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion spotted The Alvei this morning, 760km north of New Zealand.

The ship’s captain Evan Logan reportedly told authorities the schooner was delayed by unfavourable winds.

Questions are now being asked about why authorities were not told of the delay, which would have prevented the costly search mission.

Authorities had spent days trying to contact the ship by radio, before launching an air search yesterday.

Julia Lang from Maritime New Zealand said authorities would meet The Alvei’s crew when they arrived in Opua, in New Zealand in 8-10 days time.

They would be asked why the ship did not respond to the radio broadcasts, and why the delay was not reported to authorities.

“Relatives have been concerned … had the vessel been making VHF contact we would have been able to allay anyone’s fear relatively quickly,” Lang said.

“All maritime authorities internationally see skippers as responsible for their vessels. Part of that is being responsible by keeping regular and scheduled communications via maritime radio or other means.

“The fact is it has been extremely difficult. It created a lot of anxiety.”

It is unclear whether the crew may be asked to fund the cost of the search.

From http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22880797-401,00.html