Missing sailor's wife gives evidence at coronial inquest

Updated

The first day of a coronial inquest into last year's disappearance of three sailors off Townsville in north Queensland has heard evidence from the skipper's wife that her husband was well prepared for the trip.

Skipper Derek Batton, Peter Tunstead and his brother James Tunstead sailed out of Airlie Beach on the Kaz 2 catamaran on the April 15, 2007.

Five days later the 10-metre sailing boat was found drifting outside the Great Barrier Reef off Townsville with no sign of the three men.

Their wives and children have flown from Perth for the inquest.

The first witness to give evidence this morning - Jennifer Batton - said she and her husband had previously taken the Kaz 2 out on two trips with no problems.

She told the inquest her husband and neighbour Peter Tunstead had taken 10 weeks to plan the trip and they had allowed six to eight weeks and planned to stay reasonably close to the shore.

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, missing-person, accidents, maritime, disasters-and-accidents, townsville-4810, airlie-beach-4802, qld, wa

First posted