Missing couple found dead in stranded lifeboat
A couple have been found dead in a lifeboat after attempting to sail across the Atlantic ocean.
The bodies of Brit Sarah Packwood and her Canadian husband Brett Clibbery washed up in a boat on a beach in Nova Scotia over a month after they left Canada in a 12.8m eco-friendly yacht.
The couple were heading to the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago in the mid-Atlantic.
“Powered by the wind and sun. Heading east to the Azores. It’s probably the biggest adventure of our lives so far,” they said online, prior to their trip.
Searches including by plane had been underway after the couple failed to arrive or communicate.
Clibbery's son James announced the couple's deaths on Facebook.
"There is still an investigation, as well as a DNA test to confirm, but with all the news, it is hard to remain hopeful," he wrote.
"I am so very sorry to the people who were friends of them.
"They were amazing people, and there isn't anything that will fill the hole that has been left by their, so far unexplained passing."
It remains unclear how the couple got into trouble, but police in Halifax have launched an investigation into their deaths.
One theory is that the small yacht was hit by a much larger ship.
The couple had been living in Salt Spring Island in the southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, and were documenting their travel adventures on Facebook and YouTube.
On June 10 they posted a video saying they were heading on a "new adventure" from their home in Saltspring Island, British Columbia to Dartmouth Yacht Club, Nova Scotia.
"All being well, and weather permitting the Captain and I intend to set sail in the next day or two for an ocean crossing," Packwood said.
They were both experienced sailors, and the last video they shared was of them leaving Halifax on June 12.
In the video, taken aboard the yacht, Clibbery said they could see "one big ship on the horizon which came out from Halifax, so they're out of our way. We're sailing."
Images: Facebook