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The Air Force has suspended its search for 29 fishermen off Kiribati.
A Korean fishing boat found the burned-out Ta Ching 21 on November 9 still afloat, but with no one on board.
An Air Force Orion spent the past three days searching for the men, without success.
Ross Henderson of the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington said the Orion covered about 34,000sq km. He said the NZ centre had told its counterpart in Suva, which is responsible for the search, "that we don't think there is much more that we can do - we've covered the ground thoroughly".
An Orion and crew would remain on a two-hour standby to help again if asked.
The Ta Ching was crewed by Taiwanese, Chinese Filipino and Indonesian fishermen. When it was found, three liferafts and a rescue boat were missing.
