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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, November 27, 2009

24 mariners found near Chuuk, 6 still missing

Advertiser Staff

Twenty-four of 30 mariners reported missing Sunday have been located by search and rescue teams with the U.S. Coast Guard in Honolulu and Apra Harbor, Guam during a joint search near Chuuk this week.

The mariners, reported missing early Sunday morning, were located in three large canoes manned by master navigators Wednesday. Search and rescue crews are still looking for a fourth canoe with 6 additional mariners on board.

The large scale search, which has covered an area approximately 11,000 square miles wide, employed a C-130 search plane with a Coast Guard crew from Barbers Point on Oahu and a U.S. Navy P-3 Orion crew from Guam's Anderson Air Force Base.

“We’re pleased we located 24 of the mariners,” Lt. Max Seda, a search and rescue controller with the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu, said in a press release. “But we’re still coordinating closely with the Navy and other rescuers to locate the remaining six.”