Malta searches for 5 French tourists who went missing after coming ashore from yacht to dine
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Maltese authorities enlisted the U.S. 6th Fleet and Italian coast guard on Tuesday as they searched for a second day for five French yachters who went missing off the Mediterranean island.
The tourists — two men, two women and a 15-year-old boy — had anchored their yacht, El Pirata, off the village of Dwejra on Sunday. They left on their 4-meter (12-foot) tender Sunday evening to go ashore for dinner at Xlendi Bay — the next cove over on the Maltese island of Gozo — but failed to return to the yacht.
The trip would have taken them out into the open seas where conditions were rough and winds high on Sunday night.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
The Spanish yacht captain reported the group missing Monday at 4:30 p.m. after he did an initial search himself, a government statement said. Police confirmed the group had dined at a Xlendi restaurant and that a witness saw the five leave Xlendi Bay at around midnight.
Patrol boats of the Armed Forces of Malta, a helicopter and aircraft were joined Tuesday by search and rescue teams from the U.S. Navy's 6th Fleet stationed in Sicily and the Italian coast guard, a Maltese government statement said.