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The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is supporting NSW Police in the search for a missing boater off Newcastle, NSW. AMSA was contacted by NSW Police at about 8pm last night (14 June) after the man in a 4.8m Quintrex aluminium boat failed to return to Lake Macquarie at 6.30pm yesterday. Last night, AMSA's Essendon-based Challenger rescue aircraft searched an area off the Newcastle coast, along with a rescue helicopter from Sydney, police and volunteer marine rescue (VMR) vessels from the Newcastle area. The search will continue today with four helicopters and the AMSA aircraft, including two additional helicopters, Westpac 2 based at Lake Macquarie and a Defence search and rescue helicopter from Williamstown, along with additional surface vessels from NSW Police and local VMRs. The search is focusing on an area from Anna Bay to Norah Head and 40km out to sea. The AMSA aircraft has dropped datum buoys to assist with drift modelling to determine the search area. Conditions are clear with light winds and ½ metre seas. ENDS Video of datum buoy deployment can be found here: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/fDXHQmacBV |