PHUKET: The families of three crewmen who went missing while delivering a catamaran to Phuket are trying to fund a second search mission.
Their hopes have been raised by two sightings of what appears to be an upturned catamaran hull 500 miles south east of Mauritius, within the range that the catamaran could have been swept while sailing from South Africa to Phuket.
Reginald Robertson, 59, and his crewmates were due to deliver a Leopard 44 Catamaran from Cape Town to the Thai holiday island. They set sail in mid-December.
On January 18, contact was lost. The catamaran had been attempting to sail out of the path of a cyclone.
Robertson's daughter Storme has now joined forces with the families of Anthony Murray and Jaryd Payne to appeal for help after the reported sightings.
''Myself and the other families are desperate to reach the catamaran to determine if there could be any life on board the upturned hull and for a full salvage and investigation of the hull to take place" Storme told a British newspaper, the Bournemouth Echo.
"It has now been more than three weeks since the first physical sighting. We are appealing to the global public to please help us fund a search and salvage of our own."
After the catamaran went missing, more than 26,000 people signed up to help using an online tool to scour satellite images of the Indian Ocean. Efforts have been fruitless so far.
The families are now pinning their hopes on raising money for a second search through their GoFundMe site. To donate, go to gofundme.com/t2md9s
Their hopes have been raised by two sightings of what appears to be an upturned catamaran hull 500 miles south east of Mauritius, within the range that the catamaran could have been swept while sailing from South Africa to Phuket.
Reginald Robertson, 59, and his crewmates were due to deliver a Leopard 44 Catamaran from Cape Town to the Thai holiday island. They set sail in mid-December.
On January 18, contact was lost. The catamaran had been attempting to sail out of the path of a cyclone.
Robertson's daughter Storme has now joined forces with the families of Anthony Murray and Jaryd Payne to appeal for help after the reported sightings.
''Myself and the other families are desperate to reach the catamaran to determine if there could be any life on board the upturned hull and for a full salvage and investigation of the hull to take place" Storme told a British newspaper, the Bournemouth Echo.
"It has now been more than three weeks since the first physical sighting. We are appealing to the global public to please help us fund a search and salvage of our own."
After the catamaran went missing, more than 26,000 people signed up to help using an online tool to scour satellite images of the Indian Ocean. Efforts have been fruitless so far.
The families are now pinning their hopes on raising money for a second search through their GoFundMe site. To donate, go to gofundme.com/t2md9s
