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Family offers huge reward for answers into missing Cairns fisherman Shaun Daly

A desperate family is offering a huge cash reward for answers into the disappearance of a Cairns fisherman, with several factors raising red flags about what happened.

Yarrabah fishermen search called off

A DESPERATE family is offering a $25,000 reward for answers into the mysterious disappearance of a Far North fisherman, with foul play not being ruled out.

Former dive boat worker Shaun Daly, 27, vanished without a trace off the Mentawai Islands after going spearfishing on August 28.

He was last seen alive about 10am that morning when a man on a boat stopped to speak to him.

The free diver’s belongings have been untouched, with an extensive air, sea and land search around the remote Indonesian islands failing to find any sign of him.

His brother, Martin Daly, is awaiting a compassionate visa exemption from the Indonesian government to travel to Jakarta where he will conduct his own investigation after weeks of co-ordinating efforts from his bedroom in Western Australia.

He said the possibility “something more sinister” had happened could not be ruled out.

Mr Daly received his second Covid-19 vaccine in a Perth hospital on Thursday morning and hopes to be on “the next available flight” in his search for the truth into the vanishing of his “fearless” brother.

“It’s just gone cold, it’s gone quiet,” he said.

“I need to get over there myself and find some answers, try and figure out what has happened.

The waters near where Shaun Daly was last seen at Mentawai Islands. IMAGE: Supplied.
The waters near where Shaun Daly was last seen at Mentawai Islands. IMAGE: Supplied.

“There is only so much you can do from here, I need to speak to people in person, look a few people in the eye and get a sense of what’s happened.”

Mr Daly is offering a $25,000 reward “for the person that finds” his brother.

He said they were open to “several possibilities” including a theory Shaun may have suffered a shallow water blackout while spearfishing alone, and also foul play.

“We haven’t written off that something else might have happened, something more sinister,” he said.

“It can’t be ruled out. We haven’t found anything, not his speargun, just nothing.

“Not a trace.”

More than $60,000 has been raised for the search efforts for Shaun, affectionately known as “Frotha”.

He had worked on commercial dive and fishing boats in Cairns for the past seven years and is a Zimbabwean national with a British passport.

Mr Daly plans to hire a boat to conduct his own search of the magical Mentawai Islands and has also purchased a drone.

“We just don’t know because there is no evidence, no nothing,” he said.

mark.murray@news.com.au

Originally published as Family offers huge reward for answers into missing Cairns fisherman Shaun Daly

Original URL: https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/cairns/family-offers-huge-reward-for-answers-into-missing-cairns-fisherman-shaun-daly/news-story/58b82913942e1f0d6c45f6728cf634e6