'ghost Yacht' Found Off Australia

[Lounge Daddy]

crew missing w/ out a trace. what happened to them?
a strange and bizarre story.

The entire article is at [url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6574547.stm"]BBC News [LINK][/url]

[quote]The vessel was found with its engine running, and a table laid for dinner, but there were no signs of any people.
Rescue crews say they are puzzled by the mysterious disappearance.

"The engine was running, the computers were running, there was a laptop set up on the table which was running, the radio was working... and there was food and utensils set on the table ready to eat," said Jon Hall, a spokesman for Queensland's Emergency Management office.

"It was a bit strange," he added.

All the vessel's sails were up, although one was badly shredded, and lifejackets were still on board.[/quote]

I wonder what happened, and if investigators will figure it out?

[dUSt]

Aliens.

[Era Might]

Maybe they got raptured.

[onathing1]

Howbout Neptune...Yeah, Neptune got 'em!

[Aloysius]

the rapture! wow, the road was much narrower than nearly anyone thought! just one boatload of people... I bet the boat owner's name was "Peter" and that's what was always meant by the barque of Peter, you had to be on that specific boat at that specific time!

[Sojourner]

Prediction: someone will write a book about this.

[Old_Joe]

It was the Kraken.

[BG45]

[quote name='Terra Firma' post='1250219' date='Apr 20 2007, 02:46 PM']Prediction: someone will write a book about this.[/quote]

Another prediction if I may? The author of said book will be the key commentator when History Channel makes a special on this, or adds it to the special it already has on ghost ships.

[thessalonian]

I saw a car alongside the road with noone in it yesterday. Were they raptured too? WAS I LEFT BEHIND!

I heard Lahaye came out with his latest book. I bet he hopes he was left behind so he can enjoy the money. Edited April 20, 2007 by thessalonian

[Lounge Daddy]

Rapture...
[i][b]IT BEGINS! [/b][/i]

[cappie]

RELATIVES of three Western Australian men missing from a yacht found drifting off the north Queensland coast say they have not given up hope of finding the trio alive.
The 9.8m catamaran KAZ II was located by a coastwatch plane on Wednesday drifting unmanned 80 nautical miles off Townsville, but there was no sign of its crew, skipper Des Batten, 56, and brothers Jim Tunstead, 63, and Peter Tunstead, 69.

Jim Tunstead's sons, Grant and Shane, made the emotional journey across the country from WA yesterday with their brother-in-law, Paul Grey, arriving at Townsville airport last night.



"I'll do whatever it takes to find them," said Shane.

"I spoke to my Dad on Saturday. I actually spoke to him for half an hour. We just don't know how long they've been missing."

Mr Grey said the family were trying to remain positive.

"Absolutely, we haven't given up hope," he said.

The men's disappearance continues to baffle authorities.

When the yacht was discovered its engine was running, computers were on, the radio and GPs were working and food was set on the table ready to eat.

Lifejackets were also still on board.

The men had recently bought the catamaran at Airlie Beach and had planned "the trip of a lifetime" sailing the boat back to Western Australia over the next six to eight weeks.

Rescue crews have used the vessel's GPS and data contained on a computer to try and pinpoint where their journey went wrong.

A massive sea and air search was conducted yesterday spanning from the Whitsundays to Ayr.

[prose]

I can solve this:

Timmy fell over, Bob jumped in to save him. Frank, seeing the whole thing from where she was setting up the dinner ran over "BOB?? TIMMY??", she proceeded to dive in to save them.

Then a huge whale swallowed them all.

They are now on their way to Ninevah.

Edited April 21, 2007 by prose

[Thumper]

Not to be too serious on something ingeniously titled "The Lame Board," but . . . three people seem to have gone missing in the middle of the ocean. Their chances of survival are probably not all that high. And, if that weren't enough, from Cappie's article we know that there are people who love them and are mourning for them.

I'm usually up for a good joke, but we're talking about real people here, folks.

[cappie]

THE mystery deepened yesterday into the fate of the crew of a north Queensland ghost yacht with boating experts questioning whether they were victims of piracy, a fatal swim or freak squall.

The chilling disappearance of skipper Des Batten, 56, Peter Tunstead, 69, and his brother James, 63 – all from Western Australia – has baffled emergency services and the yachting community.

Their 9.8m catamaran, Kaz II, was found unmanned and adrift on Wednesday about 160km off Townsville, where it was towed for testing by police forensic officers.

Helicopters and two boats joined a scaled-down search for the trio yesterday along the coastline between Airlie Beach, from where they set sail on their ill-fated voyage last Sunday morning, and north of Bowen, as hopes of finding the trio alive began to fade.

While police said the crew of Kaz II most likely had been washed overboard after hitting rough seas and strong winds last Sunday, rescuers reported finding the men's clothing in neat piles on the boat's rear deck – as if they had gone swimming.

Members of the yachting community suggested it was either the men's inexperience or piracy that was to blame for their disappearance.

As families of the victims arrived in Townsville yesterday searching for answers, police admitted they were baffled by the mystery of what happened to skipper Des Batten, 56, Peter Tunstead, 69, and his brother James Tunstead, 63.

Their stricken 9.8m catamaran was found unmanned and adrift on Wednesday about 160km off Townsville. It was towed to the city yesterday for forensic tests.

Two helicopters and two boats joined a scaled-down search for the trio yesterday along the coastline between Airlie Beach and north of Bowen, as hopes of finding the men alive began to fade.

"There is very little hope that they would have survived at this stage if they were still in the water, so we're concentrating on the coastline just in case they made it to shore," Chief Supt Roy Wall said.

Data collected from GPS systems on board the vessel indicated the yacht was on course last Sunday morning after departing Shute Harbour at Airlie Beach, but had struck trouble that afternoon.

"The vessel in the early part of Sunday was on course, but later on during the day it appears that it's just been tracking in a slightly different direction," Chief Supt Wall said.

When the yacht was boarded, its engine was running, a laptop computer sat switched on inside, navigational equipment and plotting gear were laid out and all safety gear was on board.

Police denied previous reports that food was on a dining table ready to eat.

Chief Supt Wall said the men could have been swept overboard in rough conditions.

"We really don't know for sure and it's probably dangerous to speculate but obviously they've become separated from their vessel, it's as simple as that," he said.

"There's no indication whatsoever of anything untoward, no sign of a struggle or a fight. There doesn't appear to be any blood or anything like that. Everything seems to be quite intact.

"We may never ever know exactly how it all unfolded. There are a number of scenarios. One of them could have been fishing and may have fallen in and the others might have tried to rescue him. Who knows?

"They were obviously long-term friends. It would be obvious that they would help each other if they were in strife."

But Emergency Management Queensland helicopter rescue crewman Phil Livingstone told The Sunday Mail clothes had been found neatly placed on the rear deck, suggesting the men may have gone for a swim.

"There were neatly placed shorts, sunglasses, cap, sitting on the back deck, unruffled like they'd just gone for a swim," Mr Livingstone said.

"Alongside the clothing was a fishing rod with its line in the water."

The only thing out of place aboard the catamaran was its badly ripped sail.

[Lounge Daddy]

wow.
what a strange intriguing story...