Canterbury Police can confirm that five members of the Wellington-based NZ Police Dive Squad are helping with the recovery phase of the SAR operation to locate the F.V. Jubilee and the missing crew today.
Inspector Craig McKay says a commercial fishing vessel located an item of interest near to the F.V. Jubilee’s last known position late yesterday using sonar. “Two Coastguard personnel, a representative from Canterbury SAR and the five dive squad members are currently aboard the Blue Arrow, a Coastguard vessel, making their way to that location this morning.”
“While the wind has dropped there are still 1.5m southerly swells in the area. The dive squad will assess the conditions when they reach the site and hope to be able to deploy their radial sonar to verify whether the item of interest is the F.V. Jubilee and it’s orientation to the seabed.”
“If the item is consistent with that of the F.V. Jubilee the additional data will be assessed along with the weather conditions and sea state before putting any divers in the water. All of the information gathered today will inform the ongoing planning for this recovery phase.”
“We are currently on a falling tide and the item of interest is estimated to be on an area of seabed 40m below the surface while the top sits at around 32m” explained Inspector McKay.
The recovery is an ongoing process and a further update will be provided later on today as we receive updates from the dive team.
It is too early at this stage to say whether the item of interest is that of the F.V. Jubilee but it’s location is consistent with her last known position.
Due to operational commitments Inspector McKay is not available to verbalise the release this morning. However we hope be in a position to undertake interviews later in the day.
ENDS
Issued by: Lisa-Marie Brooks, District Communications Manager, Canterbury Police
