Search for more survivors from sunken ferry resumes in Pacific

WELLINGTON: The search for survivors from a ferry which sank with 50 people aboard in the remote Pacific resumed Monday, with rescuers saying they remained optimistic as they comb an area larger than Italy.
A New Zealand Air Force Orion plane located seven survivors drifting in a dinghy late Sunday after the sinking of the MV Butiraoi, which set off from the island nation of Kiribati on Jan 18.
NZDF Air Commodore Darryn Webb said a nearby fishing vessel had safely picked up the survivors and the focus had turned to finding more passengers from the stricken ferry.
"There's a thought that there could be a liferaft with other survivors on it... we remain optimistic that we may find more survivors," he told Radio New Zealand.
Webb said rescuers were searching a "huge" 315,000km² area.
He said the Orion's crew were determining where to look by working on the assumption any liferaft would have been drifting for about a week.
"With those details it should allow the P-3 Orion to pinpoint with greater accuracy the next location to search," he said.
The Butiraoi was last heard from on Jan 18 when it left Nonouti on a 250km trip to Betio, the largest township of Kiribati's capital city, South Tarawa.
Local authorities said the 17.5m wooden catamaran ran aground and underwent repairs to its propeller shaft before it left Nonouti.
New Zealand sent a military aircraft to conduct sweeps of the area after being called in to help late Friday by Fiji authorities who are coordinating the search.
Kiribati, a nation of 33 atolls and reefs with a total population of about 110,000, lies some 3,460 kilometres northeast of Fiji. — AFP