Search for missing men continues

A typical banana boat in the Solomon Islands

Police in Gizo, Western Province are still searching for three men who have gone missing since the New Year’s Eve.

The men were travelling on board a ray boat carrying eight passengers, crossing from Noro town to Seghe when it encountered rough seas and was capsized.

Police confirmed four people including two females swum ashore to safety while one male tragically lost his life as a result of the incident.

Police Commissioner Matthew Varley told his recent weekly media conference, three of the eight passengers are still missing saying a search is ongoing.

“And a search is continuing with the assistance of Gizo Police and other local police officers and also local boats and community in the area. The rain and rough seas has been a significant obstacle to the search over the last couple of days and we’re continuing to appeal for people around that part of the country to keep a look out as well so that they can report any sightings to police so we can continue our search,”he said.

“Our prayers are continuing to go out obviously for those three missing people and we hope they are found safe and well, but at this stage it has been quite a few days and we’re very concern for their safety”.

Meanwhile, the Police Commissioner said searches for the missing men in Makira Ulawa Province since 29 December 2018 is also ongoing.

But he says rough seas and bad weather have hampered search efforts conducted in the area.

“Poor visibility, heavy rains and dark clouds have been getting in the way. We’ve been working with the coastal people around the area of Makira to report any sightings of the missing people and at this stage what we can say is that the boat they were in was described as a 21 foot fibre glass canoe with a yellow cabin and a white body,”he said.

“We’ve had no sighting of that vessel since or the three men involved and we’re very concern for their wellbeing and the safety as well”.

By: Rickson Bau. 

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