Hopes fade for Derek Robinson and Tony Higgins four days after Margrel vanishes en route from Coffin Bay to Goolwa
The chances of finding two men missing at sea off SA grow slimmer with each passing minute, police say, after four days of searching.
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Hopes of finding two men lost at sea alive are dwindling, after another day of high-scale search efforts were unsuccessful.
Derek Robinson, 48, and Tony Higgins, 57, have been missing for four days after attempting to sail their 33ft double-ender fishing boat from Coffin Bay to Goolwa.
“Every minute we go without hearing from them increases the level of concern,” Superintendent Paul Bahr said.
“We are keeping in regular contact with the families who, as you can imagine, are pretty concerned about their loved ones.”
The men have not been heard from since Friday night, when they called a friend to say there were experiencing difficulty with the propeller.
The duo were reported missing on Sunday, prompting a major aerial search, which includes the Royal Australian Air Force and Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
Their last known location was between Coffin Bay and Kangaroo Island.
“In the last three days, police and ariel assets have examined 104,000 square kilometres,” Supt Bahr, officer in charge of the Eyre and Western Local Service area, said.
“This is obviously a fair distance if you compare that to the size ... of Tasmania of 68,000 square kilometres.”
He said the boat’s condition was unknown when the men left Coffin Bay, but police were aware that some maintenance had been completed on the vessel.
Robert Hopping, of Port Lincoln’s Axel Stenross Maritime Museum, said the vessel named ‘Margrel’ was built by Axel Stenross in 1955 for a Cummins family.
Mr Hopping said the museum was approached two months ago to buy the boat.
“We have so many in the yard on display and it’s still nice to see some still out in the water so we passed on it,” he said.
The experienced sailor of 60 years added that locals feared the worst.
“It’s a major journey from Coffin Bay to Goowla and a boat of that age, on top of the weather conditions, it should have a lot of preparation and I think it may have lacked that,” Mr Hopping said.
“You are exposed to the Great Australian Bight, Neptune Island, Cape Spencer, a lot of places which are notorious for ships to get caught up and get into serious trouble.
“To navigate those waters you would need experience and at this stage time is against them.”
Mr Higgins has skipper experience. Police also have found no sign of debris.
Anyone who sees the vessel with registration RF83S is urged to contact police immediately on 131 444.