Kiribati Ferry Search Expands After 7 Are Found Alive<br />Air Commodore Darryn Webb said Monday that the seven survivors were still on the fishing boat<br />that had rescued them, because New Zealand’s military needed it to stay in the area in case more survivors were spotted during an air search.<br />29, 2018<br />WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Searchers examined an expanding zone of the Pacific Ocean around the islands of Kiribati on Monday in hopes of finding<br />more survivors of a ferry sinking after rescuers found seven passengers alive on an aluminum dinghy following more than a week at sea.<br />Despite information from the survivors about where the ferry sank, Commodore Webb said<br />that a week of ocean currents and wind meant searchers were covering an "exponentially larger" area of ocean every day.<br />Commodore Webb said that with passengers and fishermen traveling between Kiribati’s 32 atolls, often in "rudimentary<br />vessels," it was not unusual for voyages to run late, or for New Zealand to be called upon to help find boats.<br />He said the survivors had told rescuers that the ferry split in two and sank, and<br />that they were able to use the dinghy because it detached from the larger vessel.<br />In the meantime, he said the seven survivors would stay at sea in the fishing boat until other arrangements for a rescue boat were made.
