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Police have found the boat belonging to two missing men washed up on rocks at Phillip Island, more than a day after the pair went fishing in "horrid conditions" off the Flinders coast.
- Jason De Silva and Geoffrey Hibberd have not been seen since they left on Sunday morning
- Friends have joined the search as emergency crews look for the men from land, sea and air
- Police are focused on finding the men before considering whether they breached coronavirus shutdown measures
Jason De Silva, 20, and Geoffrey Hibberd, 33, left Flinders Jetty on Sunday morning about 6:00am, but the alarm was raised when they failed to return home that night.
About 11:00am this morning, police found their missing boat washed up at Pyramid Rock just off the southern coast of Phillip Island, south-east of Melbourne.
Earlier, Senior Sergeant Jeremy Michau said the two men had taken rods and bait with them on Sunday when they headed out for a fish.
"There is evidence to suggest there wasn't any safety gear on board," he said.
"They went out in pretty horrid conditions."
The men's ute, with a tow bar attached, remained sitting in front of the jetty on Monday morning.
Several dozen police and SES crews joined the search on Monday to look for the pair via land, sea and plane.
Some of the men's friends were also the jetty helping to look for them.
"They're obviously upset," Senior Sergeant Michau said.
"They're all a little bit overwhelmed at the moment and they're realising the longer this goes on, the worse it could be."
Senior Sergeant Michau said the two men went fishing despite coronavirus-related activity restrictions and stern warnings from Victoria's Chief Medical Officer Professor Brett Sutton on Thursday that recreational exercise does not include fishing or boating.
"I'm not going to pass judgement," Senior Sergeant Michau said.
"At the end of the day, from my perspective at the moment, it's irrelevant why they were in the water. My job here is to find them.
"But I reiterate to the public that at the moment, there is no boating or fishing.
"When and if we find them, we will deal with the consequences down the line.
"We won't keep searching until the end."
Topics: missing-person, police, flinders-3929, vic, melbourne-3000
First posted