The Haunting Story Of The Kaz II
Queensland Police Service/Getty ImagesThe Kaz II was a yacht that was found empty near the Australian coast in 2007.
On April 15, 2007, three middle-aged men boarded the catamaran Kaz II in Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia. The men, Des Batten and brothers Peter and John Tunstead, had an eight-week-long journey ahead of them to get back to the city of Perth, where they lived.
But just three days later, the yacht was found adrift near the Whitsunday Islands. The next day, Emergency Management Queensland crewman Corrie Benson was able to board the ship — and found it unoccupied.
Strangely, the engine was still running, nothing seemed to be missing from the vessel, and a table even appeared to be set for dinner. There was a ripped sail, and there were some stray items on the floor. However, authorities who searched the ghost ship found no signs of foul play.
Search and rescue operations immediately began looking for the men, but they could find no sign of them anywhere near the vessel.
Though theories soon emerged that the men had been attacked by pirates or drug smugglers, or that they had even faked their own deaths for insurance purposes, a coroner in Townsville, Queensland who investigated the case believes that the men died in a tragic freak accident.
According to The Guardian, coroner Michael Barnes’ theory proposes that one man, perhaps one of the Tunstead brothers, accidentally fell overboard and the other brother tried to save him. As the other man, Batten, tried to maneuver the boat and rescue his friends, he accidentally fell overboard too.
“Once the three men were in the water there was very little chance they could get back on the boat,” Barnes said. “It would be beyond their reach in seconds. From that point, the end would have been swift.”
