The two men took a diving group, in two 25 foot (7.62m) open-topped fibreglass boats, to the Duff Reef area off Tonga’s main island of Tongatapu about 9am on Friday.
The last time any of the divers saw the men was about 11am. When the divers resurfaced about 12pm, both the boats and the men had gone.
RCCNZ was alerted yesterday and the Orion flew out this morning, arriving at the search area at 9.30am (New Zealand time). The Orion will cover a search area of approximately 4000 square nautical miles (about 13,700 square kilometres)
The search area is expected to take about 7.5 hours to cover.
Visibility in the area is good, with North East winds of18 knots, and a moderate sea (waves between 1.25 and 2.5 metres).
A further update will be provided when any new information comes to hand.
For further information contact:
RCCNZ Media Line
Phone 04 499 7318
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