A Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNAF) Orion crew has found two missing fishing vessels carrying seven Kiribati and Fijian fishers after a five-day search operation in the region.
However, a third vessel carrying three men was unable to be found.
The first search began on Saturday, the RNZAF said in a statement today. The Orion crew was deployed to Kiribati to look for a six-metre wooden fishing boat with three men aboard, missing since last Wednesday, but "were unable to locate that vessel".
Air Commodore Shaun Sexton said those involved in the search felt for the friends and family of the fishermen who weren't found.
On Saturday afternoon, the Orion crew received a second request, to look for a fishing boat from Kiribati with four people aboard.
They found this boat on Sunday and delivered a pack to the people aboard including "an activated locator beacon, water, chocolate, a strobe light, a torch and a note with information about how the four would be rescued", an RNZAF statement said.
The four were then taken to safety early on Monday by a rescue crew from the Kiribati maritime coordination centre.
On Tuesday evening, the Orion crew were asked to search for a third vessel, a Fijian fishing boat carrying three people.
They found the boat "drifting in open water" but the people aboard appeared well, with one attempting to paddle using a makeshift oar.
The Orion crew dropped a pack with a beacon and a radio to them, and Fijian police sent a rescue vessel to take them to safety.
"It's been an incredible achievement by our crew, and search and rescue staff in New Zealand, Fiji, and Kiribati, to find two groups of survivors that were drifting in boats without power in vast areas of ocean far from land or any other vessels," Sexton said.
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