Men who disappeared from yacht identified

Emergency services have retrieved the GPS system from an empty yacht found floating off the coast of Townsville, in north Queensland, which police will analyse for clues to the mysterious disappearance of the crew.



Queensland police have confirmed that three men missing from the yacht are from Western Australia.



A Customs helicopter spotted the 12-metre catamaran 80 nautical miles east of Townsville yesterday but there was no sign of the three crew members.



The discovery sparked a massive sea and air search and a team has returned to the boat this morning to check for anyone trapped inside.



Jon Hall from Emergency Management Queensland says crews are puzzled by what they found on board.



" What they found was a bit strange in that everything was normal, there was just no sign of the crew," he said.



Mr Hall says there was food on the table, a laptop was running and radio and the GPS were working.



He says all the boat' s sails were up but one was badly shredded, and he says emergency equipment and a locater device were also still on board.



Searchers believe the boat set out from Airlie Beach, in the state' s north, on Sunday and was heading to Western Australia via Townsville.



The search is continuing.



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A massive air and sea search is under way for three men missing from a yacht found drifting 80 nautical miles off Townsville, in north Queensland.



The 12-metre catamaran was first spotted by a coast watch aircraft on Wednesday, adrift near the outer reef and another aerial search yesterday confirmed the location of the vessel.



The Townsville Search and Rescue helicopter positively identified the boat overnight and confirmed there was no one on board, but police are not releasing the name of the boat or the names of those missing.



Nine aircraft and four volunteer vessels have joined the search and water police are expected to intercept the boat this morning.



The search area covers approximately 6,000 square nautical miles of ocean from the Whitsunday islands to Davies Reef.

Authorities are still baffled after finding an abandoned yacht drifting off the north Queensland coast.



A major air and sea search is continuing after the 12-metre catamaran was spotted 80 nautical miles north-east of Townsville.



A rescue crew was winched aboard, but found no trace of the three Western Australian men believed to have been on board.



Chief pilot with Emergency Management Queensland Trevor Wilson says there was no sign of anything unusual or suspicious.



" What' s creating the mystery is if the vessel had been through a severe storm where people had fallen overboard, one wouldn' t expect the vessel to be in as good a condition or certainly the contents as well placed as they are inside the boat," he said.



The yacht is being towed to Townsville where forensic tests will be carried out to try to determine the fate of those who were on board.