New Zealand plane finds 7 missing aboard 2 boats in Pacific

By NICK PERRY
Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Seven people on two small boats that drifted for days in the Pacific have been rescued after a New Zealand plane spotted them near the remote island nation of Kiribati. New Zealand’s military said Tuesday that the crew aboard an Orion plane had coincidentally spotted the two boats within 10 nautical miles of each other Monday after the boats went missing in separate incidents from the island nation late last week. The military said one of the boats had drifted 150 nautical miles from its intended course while the other one was closer to where it went missing from Makin Island.