Search for Kiribati youngsters halted

The search involved a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion. File photo / Supplied

After seven days' extensive searching, the hunt for six young people swept out to sea in a small canoe off Kiribati has been called off.

The youngsters, two 19-year-old men and four girls aged eight, nine, 12 and 14, were in a 3m outrigger canoe which was towing a dingy, collecting palm leaves for roofing off the west coast of Kiribati. They were last seen about 6pm on Friday last week.

The vessels were believed to have drifted out of a lagoon and into the open sea.

Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand senior search and rescue officer Keith Allen said the search, which covered thousands of square metres of ocean, had wrapped up.

A yellow tarpaulin and the empty canoe had been found but there had been no other sign of the missing people or the small dinghy.

"We can't be 100 per cent sure that they are dead but we can't continue the search because resources aren't available. We never give up hope and people have survived for weeks and weeks up there before," Mr Allen said.

The search involved a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion and a United States Coast Guard Hercules, as well as local resources.

Mr Allen said local authorities would continue with inquiries.

- NZPA