Missing Australians Steph Weisse, Elliot Foote, Jordan Short, Will Teagle found in Indonesia

Elliot Foote later texted his father in Sydney to say he too had been located. Peter Foote said he received the message from his son just before 1pm on Tuesday.

“It [the text] says, ‘Hey Dad, Elliot here. I’m alive. Safe now. Love you. Chat later.’ He’s probably going out for a surf this afternoon, you know. Who knows?”

Two of the three Indonesians who were on board – the boat owner and two mechanics – were also found.

The search resumed at first light on Tuesday with a number of private boats skippered by Australians joining the team of local rescuers. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade chartered a private plane to aid in the search.

Elliot 30, who grew up in Sydney and attended Scots College, is a carpenter by trade and currently lives with his partner Weisse, 31, who also grew up in Sydney, in Main Arm in northern NSW. Teagle is a landscaper and lives in Sydney. Short, 28, a carpenter, is from Byron Bay.

Peter Foote said he was not expecting his son to rush home to Australia.

“No, I want him to finish his holiday. I am sure they are all fine. If the surf is great and the
weather has come good and they are having a great time with their best mates, there is no point in him coming home,” he said.

“No, they are there for another eight days. Hopefully, they will feed them up and he will be back out there enjoying it. He has a great story to tell. They all do.”

Octavianto, the head of the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency on Nias Island, said three foreigners and two of the three Indonesian crew who were on board the boat had been found just off Tengku Island, part of the Banyak Islands group. They were found about 8.30am Indonesian time (11.30am AEST).

The Indonesian search and rescue authority, called Basarnas, has dispatched a Susi Air plane to Tengku Island to check on the reports that the Australians had been found alive.

The island where they were reportedly found is about 25 nautical miles to the west of Sarang Alu Island, where the Australians’ boat had gone missing on Sunday night after striking a storm.

The four keen surfers had been travelling in Sumatra and on the island of Nias with eight other friends to celebrate Foote’s birthday.

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A team of 20 local rescuers, police and the military spent Monday looking for the missing boat and were joined by a number of Australian-operated vessels in the search.

Pulse Surf Charters, which is run by Australians who have operated in and around the Banyak Islands and Sumatra for more than 15 years, were also part of the search.

With Karuni Rompies

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