MV_Butiraoi
MV Butiraoi
Kiribati ferry that sunk in 2018
The MV Butiraoi was a 17.5-metre (57 ft) wooden catamaran[1] that operated as a ferry in Kiribati. On 18 January 2018, it left the island of Nonouti carrying 88 passengers. Bound for Betio, the ferry was planned to make the 240-kilometre (150 mi) voyage in two days. According to survivors, the overloaded ferry broke in half and sank.[2][3]
The ferry was reported missing on the 19th.[4] On 26 January, Kiribati notified authorities in Fiji and New Zealand who, along with multiple fishing vessels, searched the areas surrounding the ferry's planned path.[5][4] Australia and the US joined in the aerial search in the days that followed.[6] Two days later, a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion patrol plane spotted a wooden dinghy containing seven passengers of the Butiraoi, who were then rescued by a nearby fishing vessel.[7] The aerial search was called off on 1 February, with some fishing vessels continuing the search.[2] No further passengers were found.