Mystery deepens after yacht checks in

1.00pm

An unidentified yacht seen leaving Whakatane on May 23 is not the hull spotted drifting just below the sea surface off the western Bay of Plenty.

Following publicity on Monday, the occupants of the mystery yacht contacted authorities to report they were safe and well after mooring in Tauranga this week.

Tauranga Coastguard operations manager Phil Crisp said the boat's owners had seen the marina security camera image of their yacht on television.

This means authorities have now accounted for all the boats known to have left Whakatane the weekend before the wreckage was found -- deepening the mystery over exactly what happened.

A final air and sea search yesterday failed to turn up any further wreckage north of Pukehina or that of the hull spotted last Thursday.

A Coastguard vessel spent nearly six hours searching and a fixed wing plane was in the air for 2-1/2 hours. Today the search was abandoned.

"We have done all we can do. We've searched by air, by boat and scoured the shoreline," Mr Crisp said.

The extensive search began last Wednesday when a dinghy, petrol cans, clothing and other items were found in the surf at Pukehina.

No one has been reported missing since a beach-walker found the items, but an aerial search later spotted a submerged hull drifting 3km off the Pukehina beach.

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES