seabug
16-01-2006, 07:25 PM
Hope fades for missing boaters
Police admit hope is fading for the safety of two men missing in a weir in south-east Queensland.
The men, aged 25 and 34, were in a runabout when it went over the side of the Claude Wharton weir on the Burnett River, south-west of Bundaberg, last night.
A 29-year-old man who was with the pair managed to raise the alarm after spending up to 15 minutes swimming around looking for them.
Inspector Daryl Powell says the man was catapulted free of the boat as it went over the weir.
He says the boat was left impaled on a metal pipe about ten metres above the water and significant amounts of water were flowing into the weir.
"Sunwater have discontinued the water flowing into this area, so hopefully we'll see a reduction in the volume of water within an hour," he said.
"So at this stage we're just going to concentrate our efforts on searching the dam water immediately below the wall."
Inspector Powell says the accident is "absolutely bizarre".
"It would be speculative to say what has actually happened but all I can see with some certainty is that it's hit the barrage here, flipped and it's now sort of upside down with the stern towards the water below and it's a drop of about 30 feet," he said.
A police diver has been flown in to help in the search after police and SES volunteers spent the night scouring Gaynday Weir.
Water police from Brisbane joined the search this morning.
Police admit hope is fading for the safety of two men missing in a weir in south-east Queensland.
The men, aged 25 and 34, were in a runabout when it went over the side of the Claude Wharton weir on the Burnett River, south-west of Bundaberg, last night.
A 29-year-old man who was with the pair managed to raise the alarm after spending up to 15 minutes swimming around looking for them.
Inspector Daryl Powell says the man was catapulted free of the boat as it went over the weir.
He says the boat was left impaled on a metal pipe about ten metres above the water and significant amounts of water were flowing into the weir.
"Sunwater have discontinued the water flowing into this area, so hopefully we'll see a reduction in the volume of water within an hour," he said.
"So at this stage we're just going to concentrate our efforts on searching the dam water immediately below the wall."
Inspector Powell says the accident is "absolutely bizarre".
"It would be speculative to say what has actually happened but all I can see with some certainty is that it's hit the barrage here, flipped and it's now sort of upside down with the stern towards the water below and it's a drop of about 30 feet," he said.
A police diver has been flown in to help in the search after police and SES volunteers spent the night scouring Gaynday Weir.
Water police from Brisbane joined the search this morning.