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BRISBANE - The families of three men who disappeared from a yacht off the north Queensland coast have refused to give up hope the sailors will be found alive despite police preparing a report on their deaths for the coroner.
Relatives of skipper Des Batten, 56, and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, aged 69 and 63, all from Perth, will launch their own search for the missing men today.
Rescue authorities yesterday said there was no hope they would be found alive.
The trio are believed to have gone missing from their 9.8-metre catamaran, KAZ II, eight days ago.
The yacht was found unmanned and adrift on Wednesday about 160km off Townsville after leaving Shute Harbour at Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays on Sunday morning.
The men had intended to sail the catamaran back to Western Australia.
Police yesterday called off the search and rescue operations about a week after it is believed the men disappeared.
However, the families of the men today will charter boats to continue scouring the north Queensland coastline.
"Please everyone, keep having positive thoughts for us," Peter Tunstead's wife Fran told ABC Radio.
"Say your prayers for us, for them - for Jimmy, for Peter, for Des - because they need that."
Townsville Detective Inspector Warren Webber said that despite extensive investigations, the case remained a mystery.
He said police would now prepare a report for the coroner.
"We can all come up with various ranges and hypotheses and theories as to what may have happened," he said.
"But at this stage our investigations concentrate on just determining exactly what facts we have. We will obviously draw some conclusions from that information and that information will ultimately be provided to the coroner."
The findings of the police inquiry will be handed to Queensland's coroner to determine whether a full inquest into the men's death is warranted.
When the KAZ II was boarded, its engine was still running, a laptop computer was found switched on and navigational equipment and plotting gear laid out.
The men's clothes were found folded in neat piles on the rear deck, as if they had gone swimming.
The only sign of damage was a shredded sail.
One theory is the men fell overboard in rough seas.
Another is that another vessel came alongside and they boarded it, either willingly or unwillingly, as if they had been attacked by pirates.
But Townsville Chief Superintendent Roy Wall ruled out foul play.
"They were all known to each other for some time, all good friends," told the Nine Network this morning.
"There's certainly nothing that's come forward at this stage that would indicate anything other than a tragic accident."
He also ruled out an apparent attack by pirates.
"I think that's stretching it a bit too far - we've had no information or reports of piracy off that part of the Queensland coast," he said.
- AAP
