Navy may have found shipping containers

A Royal Australian Navy mine-hunting vessel has located objects that may be some of
the 31 shipping containers lost off the southeast Queensland coast last week.
The containers, loaded with the agricultural fertiliser ammonium nitrate, fell from
the Pacific Adventurer as it battled cyclonic seas off Cape Moreton.
Head of the Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving Task Group Commander Dean Schopen told
ABC Radio the HMAS Yarra had detected objects with its sonar, but bad weather had
hindered the launch of remotely operated vehicles to confirm the find via video.
"There's a possibility those objects could be the containers," Cmdr Schopen said.
"As yet we have some contacts of interest, but nothing solid to say we've located
any of the containers."
HMAS Yarra is searching the sea floor at a depth of 150m over a 25 square nautical
mile area, seven nautical miles east of Cape Moreton.
Authorities coping with the loss of the containers - and 250 tonnes of oil that has
polluted local beaches - are hoping the containers sank.
"Any container that may have plausibly not sunk all the way to the bottom could have
been affected by the Eastern Australian Current and could have moved a significant
distance away," Cmdr Schopen said.
He said while it was likely the containers sank to the bottom, their fate was as yet
unknown.
"If the containers have made the bottom, there's a reasonable chance we will find
them."
Cmdr Schopen said the wind could abate overnight, allowing the launch of the
remotely operated search vehicles.