WELLINGTON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Aircraft from Australia and the U.S. Coast Guard will join the search with New Zealand for the missing Kiribati ferry MV Butiraoi with an estimated 50 people aboard, the Maritime New Zealand said in a statement on Monday.
Rescue Coordination Center NZ (RCCNZ) and the Royal New Zealand Air Force continue to assist the Rescue Coordination Center in Nadi, Fiji and Kiribati search and rescue authorities to find survivors. RCCNZ passed on the requests for further air assistance to the Australian and the U.S. search organizations.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority search and rescue jet aircraft will start searching later Monday and the U.S. Coast Guard's C-130 Hercules is due to arrive on Tuesday, said the statement.
The NZ Air Force P3 Orion has continued the search and has searched 385,000 square km as of Monday, an area larger than the size of New Zealand, it said.
RCCNZ is providing support and guidance to Fiji and Kiribati on where to search, said Senior Search and Rescue Officer Greg Johnston.
A Kiribati marine patrol boat with medical personnel onboard, which will arrive on Tuesday, will collect the seven survivors rescued from a dinghy on Sunday afternoon, the statement said.
The 56-foot wooden catamaran vanished on Jan. 18 after leaving for what was supposed to be a two-day voyage.
