Off the coast of Indonesia, four Australians are missing at sea after their wooden boat encountered heavy weather.
Late on Monday, the families of Elliot Foote, Steph Weisse, Will Teagle, and Jordan Short released a unified statement confirming their missing members’ whereabouts.
In a statement issued through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, they wrote, “Our hearts are breaking at the prospect that Elliot, Steph, Will, and Jordan are missing at sea.
“We keep praying and holding out hope that they will be located.
We would like to express our gratitude to the Indonesian and Australian governments for their continued support of our search and rescue operations.
There were reportedly three local crew members on board.
A representative for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that a search and rescue effort was under progress.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the families of the four Australians onboard and is working closely with Indonesian authorities to support search and rescue efforts,” a spokeswoman said.
“During this difficult time, our thoughts are with the family and friends of those missing,”
Amy, Teagle’s sister, said that a party of 12 people were travelling by two wooden longboats from Nias island, which is located about 120 kilometres off the coast of North Sumatra, to the Banyak Islands in Aceh.
The distance between Nias and the Banyak Islands is more than 50 kilometres.
One of the boats made it there, but not the other.
Leonie Hull, Teagle’s aunt, also made a plea for assistance on social media, claiming to be posting on behalf of David, Teagle’s father.
“My son William and three Australian friends vanished while travelling by boat from Indonesia’s Padang to Nias. Last sighting was at 6 p.m. Indo time last night during bad weather, according to the post.
According to Basarnas, the National Search and Rescue Agency of Indonesia, the boat vanished on Sunday evening at 6 o’clock close to the Banyaks island of Sarang Alu.
“Today, our crew came at Sarang Alu Island to conduct a search. According to Octavianto, the Basarnas leader of Nias, “it is the last location before both boats split apart.”
“The waves reach heights of three to four metres. It’s dark and it’s raining hard.
“Due to the weather, we can only employ smaller, more aerodynamic boats.
“Within 40 nautical miles of Sarang Alu Island, we are looking.
“It rained and was really windy from yesterday afternoon until today. In reality, Nias has experienced poor weather for the previous month.
They travelled there entirely on their own, using primitive wooden boats.
