87 feared dead in Tonga ferry disaster

At least 87 people are now feared dead in the Tonga ferry disaster, police said Saturday, describing the sinking as a “tragedy of huge proportions” for the tiny Pacific island nation.

The number people on board the Princess Ashika, which sank just before midnight on Wednesday, has been revised upwards to 141 following interviews with survivors. The original manifest showed only 79 on board.

Fifty-four passengers and crew were rescued, two bodies had been recovered and 85 people were unaccounted for, police said.

“This marine disaster is a tragedy of huge proportions for this country. It strikes right at the heart of this seafaring nation,” police commander Chris Kelley said, adding that the toll could go higher.

“The news is not good. We now have the names of 141 people who were on the Ashika, as a result of statements taken from survivors... and that number may be more,” Kelley said

“The list of those on board has grown from 79 to 141 in the last 24 hours.”

Teams of Australian and New Zealand navy divers, who arrived in Tonga overnight, were to survey the area where the Ashika went down before attempting to recover bodies trapped inside.The 34-year-old vessel was 86 kilometres (53 miles) northeast of Nuku’alofa en route to Ha’afeva, in the outlying Nomuka Islands group, when it sank moments after issuing a mayday call.

Survivors said it went down quickly and people below decks had no time to get out.

Viliami Latu Mohenoa, who was on deck when the ferry began to roll, said by the time he surfaced and swam to the nearest liferaft the Ashika had gone down.

“The most amazing thing was that the women and seven or so children who were already awake inside the passenger rooms in the upper deck did not cry or make any noise. The ferry went down very quietly,” Mohenoa said.

“No one was able to make it out apart from us men. No woman or child made it.”The ferry has been located in 35 metres (115 feet) of water but is near a shelf with a 150-metre drop.

“The first part of our operation is going to be reconnaissance, so that’s going to involve getting out there with our autonomous underwater vehicle,” New Zealand navy officer Lieutenant Commander Andrew McMillan told Radio New Zealand.“It allows us to survey a largish area of ocean. We’re hoping to find the vessel and get a more exact idea of how deep it actually is.”

A New Zealand Air Force Orion is also continuing to patrol overhead, extending the area it covers to take into account drift and tide in an ongoing search for more survivors or bodies.

The 54 survivors were all found on liferafts within a few hours of the sinking and searchers held little hope Saturday that anyone else would be found alive.

“Obviously, the more time that passes, the less the chances,” said Ross Henderson of the New Zealand rescue centre, which is co-ordinating the search.Fishermen who know the area say several ships have sunk in the same waters, which are known for rogue waves, the editor of Talaki newspaper, Filo Akauola, told Radio New Zealand.

Tongan Transport Minster Paul Karalus said a marine investigator from New Zealand would arrive Saturday to begin an investigation into the tragedy.

Karalus denied claims by angry Tongans that the ageing ferry, bought last month as a stop-gap measure until a new vessel arrives in 2011, was unseaworthy. -AFP