World

Hopes fade for survivors of ferry capsize in Tonga

The Associated Press, Nuku'alofa, Tonga | Fri, 08/07/2009 3:02 PM
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Hopes faded Friday of finding any more of the dozens missing for almost two days after a busy ferry flipped and sank off Tonga.

Maritime rescue officials said after nightfall Friday they were considering calling off the search for survivors, as navy divers flew from Australia and New Zealand to comb the wreck for bodies.

Only two deaths have been confirmed, and the 64 missing are presumed dead.

That figure kept rising Friday as investigators learned more about how many people were aboard when the Princess Ashika went down around midnight Wednesday while carrying passengers and cargo from the capital, Nuku'alofa, to outlying northern islands.

Police Chief Inspector Sokopeti To'ia told The Associated Press late Friday the latest count of those aboard the ferry was 120. Of those, 54 have been rescued - one more than previously counted - and two bodies have been recovered, leaving 64 missing. The dead were a British man living in New Zealand and a Polynesian woman.

"I really can't say this is a final tally as police continue to get the names of people seen boarding the vessel that weren't on the manifest," To'ia said.

Five foreigners were among the missing, four were French and German - the breakdown was not exactly known - and one Japanese, she said. Seven children were unaccounted for.

The identities of the foreigners was yet to be confirmed, To'ia said.

The chances of finding any of the missing alive "are not great," Police Commander Chris Kelly said earlier Friday.

The cause of the disaster was not known. Survivors described the ferry rocking violently from side to side and waves breaking the lower deck before it went under, though officials said weather conditions were mild.

State-owned Shipping Corp. of Polynesia said the ferry was licensed to carry 200 passengers plus crew, suggesting it was not overcrowded.

Tongan Transport Minister Paul Karalus said the ferry was recently inspected, and there was "no question about its seaworthiness." Veteran democracy campaigner 'Akilisi Pohiva has claimed the ferry was unsafe and should not have been operating.

Many of those missing were women and children who had been given cabins below deck and may have been trapped inside when the ferry sank about 55 miles (85 kilometers) northeast of Nuku'alofa, officials say.

Most of the male passengers remained on the upper decks during the journey, and the survivors so far are all men.

Two days of searching by sea and air has found no sign of survivors since a few hours after the ferry capsized. Authorities suspended the search at nightfall Friday and were not sure they would resume it.

"We live in hope, and we will be making a decision overnight as to whether the search continues," New Zealand Rescue Coordination Center director John Dickson said Friday on that country's National Radio.

"This is a huge disaster, a huge loss," Tongan Prime Minister Feleti Sevele told reporters in Cairns, Australia, where he was attending a South Pacific leaders' summit.

Tonga, an archipelago of 169 islands and 120,000 people in the South Pacific about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand, is regularly buffeted by destructive cyclones and lies near an earthquake faultline.

But few natural disasters have caused many deaths, and the ferry sinking has hit hard.

Dozens of relatives and their supporters gathered on Friday outside the office of ferry company, hoping for good news, many of them weeping and hugging of each other for support.

"Everyone is absolutely shell-shocked. No one has been untouched by this," Tonga's Chief Justice Tony Ford told New Zealand's Stuff news Web site. "My driver lost his neighbor, his neighbor's wife and their daughter, a woman from the court has lost two of her sisters. Everyone has been affected."

Australia and New Zealand announced they were sending navy dive teams to Tonga to search the wreck and recover victims' bodies.

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