WELLINGTON, July 4 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand search and rescue officials on Thursday resumed the search for a U.S. sailing vessel that disappeared with seven people aboard a month ago after unearthing an undelivered text message giving details of its course.
Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) officials said Wednesday they would consider resuming the search for the 21-meter schooner, Nina, which disappeared en route from New Zealand to Australia.
Aboard the Nina were six U.S. nationals, three men aged 17, 28 and 58 and three women aged 18, 60 and 73 , and a British man aged 35.
The vessel, which was built in 1928, left Opua in the far north of New Zealand on May 29 for Newcastle in New South Wales, and had not been heard from since June 4, when it was about 370 nautical miles west-northwest of the northern tip of New Zealand's North Island.
RCCNZ revealed Thursday that it had obtained from Iridium, a satellite communications company, details of the approximate position and actual time of the last transmission from the Nina's satellite phone on June 4, which was factored into the search calculations on June 15.
"As concern for the vessel increased, RCCNZ made further enquiries with Iridium about all transmissions made from the Nina' s satellite phone during the period of interest," Maritime New Zealand general manager safety and response services Nigel Clifford said in a statement.
On June 29, it became known that a text message on June 4 had not been delivered to its intended recipient by the Iridium system, so RCCNZ and the U.S. State Department sought the release of the undelivered text message contents, which RCCNZ received on July 3.
It gave the vessel's course and the message "Storm sails shredded last night, now bare poles."
"The text message clearly indicates that the Nina was affected by the storm, but gives no indication of immediate distress," said Clifford.
"While it shows that Nina had survived the storm up to that point, very poor weather continued in the area for many hours and has been followed by other storms."
RCCNZ had discussed the details of the text message and other search information with representatives of the family and friends of the crew.
A New Zealand air force P3 Orion on Thursday completed a radar search of more than 97,000 square nautical miles without any sighting of the vessel.
Records showed that conditions at the vessel's last known position were very rough, with winds of 80 km per hour gusting to 110 km per hour and swells of up to 8 meters.
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