Air Force ends search

The Royal New Zealand Air Force yesterday withdrew from a weeklong search for 18 people missing after a ferry capsized and sank near Kiribati, citing a lack of fuel, Radio New Zealand reported.

A New Zealand plane has been assisting since the boat went down last Monday while ferrying passengers from the main island of Tarawa to outlying Maiana island. Twenty survivors were picked up and seven bodies recovered, said Neville Blakemore from New Zealand's Rescue Co-ordination Centre.

The ferry, a 17m double-hulled canoe, capsized when the captain tried to recover a crewman lost overboard in high waves.