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SYDNEY - The father of teenage ice-skating champion Morgan Innes, missing after a fatal collision on Sydney Harbour, has urged searchers to continue looking for his 14-year-old daughter.
Fronting the media, a clearly emotional Robert Innes spoke of his daughter who he says was mature, articulate, and had a great sense of humour.
The teenager disappeared when a HarbourCat ferry and a private wooden motor cruiser collided beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge just before 11pm (1am Thursday NZT) on Wednesday.
Police said they would continue their search for the teenager today, but said the family had now come to the realisation it was unlikely Morgan would be found alive.
Innes said he did not wish to speak about Wednesday's collision, but he had learnt in the past day she was sitting near the point of impact.
He thanked all those who had supported his family and urged emergency services to continue to search for his daughter.
"We must ask that we all continue to look for our lovely daughter and ask that you provide us space to put our shattered lives back together," he told reporters.
He said his daughter belonged to Sydney and Brisbane and many people, a lot of them children, were grieving terribly in both cities.
"She is a very competitive, very successful athlete and a wonderful daughter and sister, and we miss her passionately and have always been very proud of her," he said.
The 10-metre motor cruiser was carrying a dozen members of Australia's skating community on a sightseeing tour of the harbour at the time of the accident.
Three people, including NSW Ice Skating Association (NSW ISA) president Alan Blinn, 47, and Simone Moore, 44, who is also involved with the NSW ISA, were killed. The third person has not been named.
Eight others were injured.
Morgan had been training hard for an ice skating test which she was due to undergo today, Mr Innes said.
She had spoken with her parents on the phone at 9.15pm AEST (11.15pm NZT) on the night of the accident.
Mr Innes, who was supported by his brother Doug, said his family were also trying to deal with the death and injury suffered by the others on the boat, many of whom, he said, were like family.
"Some of these very well-loved people have died and some have been terribly injured, and like their other family members, we are tying to deal with this grief on top of not finding Morgan," he said.
Marine Area Commander Superintendent Terry Dalton said today's search would include submerged storm water tunnels and sea water channels in the Sydney Cove area.
He said all those involved wanted to give the family closure.
"Of course, initially there is hope, but now we just want to recover her," he told reporters.
"The survival time that we were given was about nine hours, so we're well and truly past that time, sadly."
A review of the search operations would be undertaken this afternoon, he said.
- AAP
