A survivor has told how he called frantically for his cousin for hours while in a lifeboat, but did not get a response.

A team of 12 navy divers and a three-member remote search team will leave for Tonga this evening.

A New Zealand woman is "just trying to hold onto hope" that her mother, brother and sister have survived the sinking of an inter-island ferry in Tonga.

Rescuers are now looking for 64 missing passengers after the number on board a Tongan ferry that sank on Wednesday was revised up to 119.

A survivor says the vessel rolled so quickly that women and children sleeping below decks had no chance to escape.

A survivor of Tonga's ferry disaster says the vessel rolled so quickly in rough seas that women and children sleeping below decks had no chance to escape.

One of the two bodies recovered after the Tongan ferry Princess Ashika sank last night has a NZ connection.

A survivor has described how the Tongan ferry Princess Ashika overturned and all the women and children perished.

NZ's Rescue Coordination Centre has launched a major search operation after a ferry carrying 79 people sank off Tonga.