Search continues for Milne Bay dinghy mishap victims

Search and recovery efforts for seven people missing following a boating incident in the Makamaka local level government [LLG] area of Alotau, Milne Bay, will officially be called off this Friday.

It has been almost two weeks since the passenger dinghy encountered trouble on July 23.

An additional supply of fuel and rations has been dispatched to assist relatives of the seven missing persons so they can continue search operations until the Friday deadline.

Milne Bay provincial disaster coordinator Randall Ganisi confirmed that the official 72-hour search period under their Standard Operating Procedure [SOP] lapsed on Sunday, forcing official teams to scale down operations.

"We've actually scaled down on the search due to the 72-hour maximum limit on our SOP," Ganisi said.

"We tried to get air assistance, but Milne Bay Province is so limited with air support. We didn't have Jet A-1 fuel to request air support for search."

Ganisi said that to allow for closure, families of the missing individuals requested a final extension of search and recovery efforts until Friday, after which the operation will be formally wound up.