Please bring our boys home!
We are writing to you as the parents, parents in law, wife and family of Lukas Orda, one of the Australian nationals still missing after the sinking of Gulf Lifestock One on September 2. We also include William, the two New Zealand and the 36 men from the Phillipines in our plea.

We as the family of Lukas including his parents Sabine and Ulrich Orda are devastated to hear that the search for the missing crew members was stopped last night. We appreciate all the help that DFAT and its staff members have done to support us and the other families. We are also greatly appreciative of the work and dedication of the Japan Coast Guard who risked their lives to save them.

However, we cannot understand this decision in light of the following:
The Australian Consular Emergency Centre advised us on September 7 that information supplied by the Philippines Consul-General (Osaka) from one of the survivors who was washed overboard (short version):
When the engine of the ship failed in the storm the captain called all crew on the bridge in life vests to enter the lifeboats. Three crew could not reach the bridge and were washed overboard. When a big wave hit the ship and pushed it on the side the second survivor was washed off the bridge and lights went off. There is no further information.
 
It is extremely concerning that given this above information that the search would be suspended as this provided evidence that people were unlikely to be trapped on the ship and could be still floating in the ocean awaiting rescue. I am also aware that a second typhoon has swept through the area after finding three crew members, however no one has provided any information to say that this would have changed outcomes for the remaining crew. 

Currently there has been no sightings of any other dead bodies of the remaining 40 crew, 4 life rafts and 1 lifeboat which still have not been found accounted for. I am under the belief that these vessels self-deploy in the event of a ship going down, so even if not all were freed (dependent upon the way the ship sunk), I ask you
where are the remaining vessels?  Therefore, there is a strong possibility that at least some of the crew members including Lukas and William made it into a missing lifeboat or raft. 

Yes, a second Typhoon that passed through the search area would have displaced the vessels a relevant distance from the original search area, however we are a nation of people who always strive to succeed in many times overwhelming odds to eventually prevail. 

Therefore, as parents we implore and you to assist us in getting this search resumed to provide some closure and answers to this tragedy that is affecting our own nationals, our ANZAC partners and Philippines nationals. We help so many other nations especially in our region and I am sure with some discussion we could enlist other nations including our own to continue the search after the Japanese Government has made such a tremendous effort to find our loved ones. 

We have set the bar high previously with our own searches for the missing Malaysian flight MH370 along with the successful rescue of other seafarers. We in this case do at least have relatively reliable information regarding the last known location of the vessel along with modern technology and satellite equipment to provide a high chance of a better outcome than MH370.