No sign of missing Kiribati group

Air Force Orion. File photo / NZ Herald

A Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion has failed to find any sign of six young people missing in a small craft in the Pacific Ocean.

The group - two men aged 19 and four girls aged eight, nine, 12 and 14 - were in a 3m outrigger canoe which towing a dingy collecting palm leaves for roofing off the west coast of Kiribati.

They were last seen about 6pm on Friday.

The New Zealand Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCCNZ) has said the vessels were believed to have drifted out of a lagoon and into the open sea.

Kiribati authorities contacted the RCCNZ yesterday requesting help and the Orion reached Kiribati yesterday afternoon (local and NZT) and started searching last night.

A Maritime New Zealand spokeswoman told NZPA that the Orion would resume searching tomorrow if the group was not found.

- NZPA