Yacht search 'will not be resumed'

Sea-goers are urged to keep watch for the Tuila

The search for three Cambridge University students missing aboard a 28ft yacht in the North sea will not be resumed despite pressure from the public, it has been confirmed.

Coastguards said they had been inundated with calls appealing for the search to continue, but confirmed that the three-day operation, which involved seven lifeboats, five spotter-planes and a helicopter, is over.

The search area covered 5,500 square miles

Chris McMenemy, 26, Carol Smith, 23, and James Chew, 22, left the Dutch port of Ijmuiden on Friday on board the Tuila yacht with skipper Adam Clackson, 58.

None of them has been seen since.

A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Mark Clark, said: "If there is a report or sighting connected to the Tuila, believe me we will have a helicopter up in minutes.

"But we have other rescue operations to carry out. We have had missing fishermen to deal with and children going out on inflatables and getting into difficulties.

"Over the 5,500 square miles we searched, small items such as a child's shoe were spotted and investigated. From that level of searching we can show the world that we have put in absolutely every effort," he said.

'Wasted day'

He added that the calls to coastguard emergency lines from people appealing for the search to continue were hampering other rescue operations.

Did the Tuila hit a cargo ship?

Peter Chew, father of 22-year-old James, said the search had been called off too quickly and rescuers had wasted the first day by searching too close to the English coast.

He said: "We are trying to persuade people to resume the search because nothing has been found and that is very unusual - I do not think anyone has a good reason why that might be," said Mr Chew, of Wysall, Nottinghamshire.

"We believe there is an area which has not been searched at all yet and it should be."

Mr Chew said he found it hard to believe the Tuila could have got into difficulty in calm conditions and with an experienced crew on board.

"I know there is the possibility that another vessel could have struck them but I find even that hard to believe when there is no wreckage," he said.

'Fantastic will to live'

Chris McMenemy: 'Fantastic will to live'

Chris McMenemy's girlfriend, Christy Karras, 26, said from her Cambridge University flat: "Right now Chris's friends and family hope the search can continue, officially or unofficially.

"We are calling on ships nearby to keep a look out. Just because the coastguard is calling off the search it doesn't mean the rest of the ships should stop looking. I am sure they will - sailors seem to look out for their own."

She added that if Chris never returned, or if his body was found, she would try to set up a scholarship for students in his memory.

His father, Francis McMenemy, who lives in Canada, also called for the search to go on.

He told the BBC: "The thought that maybe if we get them today they could live, but if we get them... three days from now we are going to bring them back dead, is atrocious.

"We have got to remember that we have got four very fit people there. There is a fantastic will to live," he said.