Damion DIAMOND and
Damion DIAMOND and
Richard CHOI aka DJ AKIRA
Richard CHOI
Damion DIAMOND
Richard Choi was 37 years old on the date of his disappearance. He is an Asian male with short black hair, brown eyes, 175cm tall and of a medium build.
Damion Diamond was 43 years old on the date of his disappearance. He is a male of Mediterranean appearance, with short brown hair, brown eyes, 180cm tall and of a solid build.
Richard and Damoin were last seen on 2 June 2013 at the Norah Head NSW boat ramp, on Maitland Road. They were berthing a fishing boat in rough conditions. The boat was last seen in Cabbage Tree Bay and did not return.
If you have information that may assist police to locate them please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppers.com.au
The search for two missing fisherman off the New South Wales coast will focus on an area north of Newcastle on Wednesday, after fishing gear and life jackets were found washed up on Stockton Beach.
Richard Choi, 38 and Damian Diamond, 43, have not been seen for four days when they left Norah Head on the Central Coast to go fishing.
A police spokeswoman says the jackets, fishing equipment and a fuel tank were discovered yesterday afternoon.
The search for the pair has been scaled back today off waters between Newcastle and Seal Rocks on the mid north coast.
TWO days of searching have failed to find any trace of 44-year-old father of two Damion Diamond and Richard Choi who is also know as DJ Akira.
THE second fisherman missing off the NSW Central Coast has been identified as Sydney DJ Richard Choi, it's been reported.
Two days of searching have failed to find any trace of 44-year-old father of two Damion Diamond and Mr Choi who is also know as DJ Akira.
The men left the Norah Head boat ramp on Sunday morning in a 4.6 metre runabout.
They were intending to go fishing at Bird Island, four nautical miles to the northeast, despite warnings from locals of bad weather and deteriorating sea conditions.
Mr Diamond from The Entrance, and Mr Choi, 37, sent an emergency text message on Sunday night saying they were out of fuel and needed help.
The search was suspended on Monday evening and resumed at first light on Tuesday.
Mr Choi is renowned in Sydney's dance music scene, having DJed at major events and parties for almost 20 years, News Ltd reports.
Three Water Police vessels, the police helicopter and police on jet skis are searching on Tuesday, a police spokesman says.
"At this stage, if they're in the vessel we're obviously still hopeful that they'd be alive," he said.
Mr Diamond's brother, Travis Lane, told News Ltd the family still hoped to find the father of two alive.
He said Mr Diamond had been out on the boat several times and each time it was equipped with flares and lifejackets.
THE second fisherman missing off the NSW Central Coast since Sunday morning has been identified as Sydney DJ Richard Choi, aka DJ Akira.
THE second fisherman missing off the NSW Central Coast since Sunday morning has been identified as Sydney DJ Richard Choi, aka DJ Akira.
Mr Choi, 37, is renowned in Sydney’s dance music scene, having DJ’ed at
major events and parties for almost 20 years.
Friends took to Facebook yesterday and today, expressing concern and
disbelief that the missing man was him.
Police have moved the search for Mr Choi and his mate Damion Diamond further
north due to prevailing ocean currents.
Marine area command Sergeant Justin Harrison said this morning that police
launches, helicopters and marine rescue vessels were now concentrating on a
stretch of ocean from Newcastle to Port Stephens.
Mr Diamond, 43, and Mr Choi were last seen setting off for Bird Island from
Norah Head on Sunday morning.
Their last contact was via an SMS on Sunday night, saying they were out of
fuel and needed help.
Sgt Harrison said surf lifesaving jetskis were still searching shallow water
and rock reefs around Bird Island and Norah Head in the hope of finding
wreckage or anything that could help reveal what happened to the pair.
“They might find something that has washed in there overnight,” he said.
“The rescue boat from Norah Head is also out, but we’ve had a look at the
different scenarios: whether they’re in the water, whether they’re still in
a vessel or whether the vessel is upturned, and all our search-and-rescue
modelling has put all those scenarios in that area further north.”
It was a Hail Mary SMS, a last-ditch text message from two stricken boaties to a friend on dry land: "Help we are stranded in the sea with no fuel Norah Heads".
But their mate back in Sydney brushed off the SOS text as a ruse to get him to join Damion Diamond and Richard Choi on their Central Coast fishing trip, a NSW coroner says.
Mr Diamond and Mr Choi had already tried calling triple zero after setting out on June 2, 2013.
The emergency dispatcher on the other end of the line couldn't make out a call for help as the two men sat in their runabout and bad weather rolled in.
Deputy State Coroner Sharon Freund on Friday ruled that the men, aged 43 and 37, had drowned off the NSW coastline and that their boat had probably capsized.
"I am satisfied that whilst at sea (their) vessel likely suffered either a mechanical failure or ran out of fuel, which rendered it incapable of being manoeuvred in such hazardous and treacherous conditions," Ms Freund wrote.
The men's bodies were never found.
Marine Rescue NSW volunteer Malcolm Fletcher told the inquest he saw the pair preparing to set out from Norah Head and warned them that high winds and heavy seas were on the way.
Witnesses testified that the pair were bailing out water even as they launched.
Yet despite the midday triple-zero call and the SMS half an hour after that, it wasn't until 3pm that police were alerted.
Locals raised the alarm after noticing a car and boat trailer still in the car park as heavy rain and strong winds lashed the coastline.
Two yellow lifejackets, shoes, an esky lid and a fishing net were found washed up at Stockton Beach two days later.