Fresh team searches for missing mariner

Chinese friends vow to 'seize even slightest chance' of finding sailor

Ten days after the United States suspended its search for Guo Chuan, a record-breaking Chinese sailor who went missing while attempting a solo crossing of the Pacific Ocean, Guo's friends and relatives sent out a new rescue team by air on Sunday.

Led by a former US Navy SEAL commander, the plane, a Gulfstream 3, with a team of seven experienced professionals in maritime rescue and survival, departed from Hawaii's main island of Oahu at about 3 am Beijing time on Sunday. They plan to search every island around the area where Guo last made contact with his support team, vowing to "seize even the slightest chance" of finding him, according to Richard Xie, who helped secure a suitable aircraft and assemble the team.