QLD: Missing five found safe off Queensland coast

AAP General News (Australia)
12-23-1998
QLD: Missing five found safe off Queensland coast

BRISBANE, Dec 23 AAP - Five people missing in rough seas off Hinchinbrook Island overnight
were found safe and well on a secluded beach, police said today.

An air and sea search was launched yesterday when the three adults, aged between 28 and 68,
and two children, aged five and eight, failed to return from a fishing trip.

A police spokesman said rough seas and a thunderstorm in the area prevented any search
overnight.

A distress flare was spotted in the early hours of this morning, leading searchers to Cape
Sandwich Beach, on the eastern side of Hinchinbrook Island, off the north Queensland coast.

Police said the engine of their four-metre dinghy broke down yesterday.

The party of five was ferried to Cardwell on the mainland, 1500km north of Brisbane.

AAP bja/wjf

KEYWORD: HINCHINBROOK LEAD

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