The families and friends of the missing Gulf Livestock 1 crew have thanked all donors for their ongoing support.
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The ship with 43 crew aboard including Mount Isa vet Lukas Orda went missing in a typhoon in the South China Sea on September 2 and only two have been found alive and another one dead.
A GoFundMe campaign started two weeks later after Japan called off the search for survivors and it has raised over $115,000 which has helped put search helicopters and planes in the sky and fund satellite imagery support.
Now Charlie Gray, friend of the other Australian missing William Mainprize said that after two weeks of searching, images from crew and pilots have brought back promising results.
"Firstly, what appears to be a canopy from a Viking life raft (the same used on the Gulf Livestock 1) was spotted by helicopter on the south-west Japanese island of Kuchinoshima - approx. 260kms from the last known location of the Gulf Livestock 1," Ms Gray said.
"We have confirmed on the same day, a life ring and a single blue boot was spotted 35kms away on the island of Gajajima."
She said other sightings of dead cows and other ship debris have been spotted and photographed in a similar area.
"All of these findings run in line with drift particle maps put together by marine experts soon after the capsizing of the ship," she said.
"The findings leave friends and families of the remaining crew extremely hopeful that more signs of the Gulf Livestock 1 and the whereabouts of its missing crew can be found."
Ms Gray urged people to continue to support the GoFundMe with any further donations going to aircraft to search the remaining Tokara Island group and the islands south of Amami and they would also like to search the Izu Island group, south of Tokyo.
"This is not a search for closure, in our minds, this still remains an active search to rescue the missing crew," Ms Gray said.
"We cannot forget there are still four life rafts and one lifeboat from the ship still unaccounted for and we're appealing for anyone who has the means to donate and join the search with us."
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
