Close-knit fishing community grieves loss of 48yo deckhand
The grim search will now continue for the body of the Tin Can Bay deckhand in the waters off the Sunshine Coast
Gympie
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UPDATE: Tuesday 5.20pm
TIN Can Bay's close-knit fishing community is grieving the loss of one of its own tonight after the frantic search for a 48-year-old missing deckhand was suspended.
The man, an Indonesian national, was lost overboard in rough seas off the Sunshine Coast in the early hours of Monday morning.
He was a crew member of the Cayburn fishing trawler out of Tin Can Bay. Police were last night concentrating on trying to find his body.
The vessel was seven nautical miles (50km) off Point Arkwright when the man fell overboard about 3.30am. He was not wearing a life jacket.
The trawler's captain deployed a life ring, life jacket and emergency radio beacon into the water, a Queensland Police spokesman said.
QPS were on the scene of the last known location by 7am and described conditions as "very adverse".
While police remained hopeful on Monday, yesterday they said no assets would be deployed and the recovery search would now be based on drift models.
Investigators from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority were scheduled to attend the vessel to review the circumstances around the incident.
QPS is engaging with Border Force and other national and international entities to ascertain information about next of kin. Gympie MP Tony Perrett yesterday expressed his sympathy at the tragedy.
"My prayers are with the fisherman, his family, and loved ones," Mr Perrett said.
"My thoughts also go out to the owners of the vessel, and others in the industry who will all feel shocked by this tragic event.
"As the Member who represents Tin Can Bay, I know that the Tin Can Bay fishing industry is a close-knit community.
"The situation is still evolving, and we do not know the full circumstances of what happened.
"It is far too early to speculate."
EARLIER: Tuesday 9.30am
THE search has been suspended for a missing Tin Can Bay deck hand in waters off the Sunshine Coast.
The man fell overboard around 3.45am yesterday and the crew of the boat threw life rings and an EPIRB however the man has not been located.
The vessel is a fishing trawler based in Tin Can Bay and the missing man is a foreign national aged in his forties. No assets will be deployed today and the search will now be a recovery search based on drift models.
Investigators from Australian Maritime Safety Authority will attend the vessel today to review the circumstances around this incident.
TUESDAY 8AM
POLICE have resumed a major search operation this morning for a Tin Can Bay fisherman missing at sea who was knocked from a trawler in Sunshine Coast waters early yesterday morning.
Police hold grave concerns for a Tin Can Bay trawler crew member who it is believed fell from a trawler in rough seas 27 nautical miles off Point Arkwright about 3.45am yesterday morning.
RELATED: Cold, wet and windy with a chance of storms ahead
Yesterday a second search ended in tragedy when authorities found the body of an American yachtsman off Maroochydore beach after an empty yacht washed up at Mooloolaba yesterday morning.
Sunshine Coast Superintendent Craig Hawkins said the 12m Alcobri yacht was registered to the US and contained an American passport on-board.
It had reportedly been travelling south from Hervey Bay.
This morning Supt Hawkins remained hopeful the search for the Tin Can Bay fisherman would yield a different ending.
Details of the moment the fisherman disappeared overboard were recounted by the trawler's skipper yesterday.
The skipper had seen his crew member on the deck before the boat was hit by a large wave but after the wave passed, the crew member could not be found, Supt Hawkins said.
Supt Hawkins said the skipper of the trawler had thrown safety equipment overboard as he searched for his co-worker, marking the location he disappeared.
Yesterday Supt Hawkins said authorities would continue to search for the missing fisherman until they deemed it "fruitless to continue".
"The information that we have is that he has gone overboard in particularly rough seas," he said.
"We will continue to search while the opportunity is likely that we will find him."
"As you would expect under these circumstances, losing a friend and a co-worker, that would be a very stressful moment," he said.
While police are holding out hope that the man is found, Supt Hawkins said the longer the man remained at sea, the more dangerous it became.
"At this stage, we certainly are hopeful that we will find him," he said.
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