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A British man carrying a New Zealand driver's licence has died in the overnight sinking of Tongan ferry Princess Ashika.
Radio & TV Tonga told the Herald identification cards had been found in a wallet belonging to a 48-year-old man named Dan MacMillan.
The man's body was one of two
recovered so far.
The exact spelling of Mr MacMillan's name was not confirmed.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman, who is with Minister Murray McCully at the Pacific Island Forum in Cairns, told the Herald the man appeared to be a British citizen travelling with a New Zealand driver's licence.
No further details on how long the man had been in New Zealand, or where in Britain he was from, were available.
Mr McCully told reporters in Cairns the body of a European man found after the ferry sank was a British citizen who had a New Zealand driver's licence on him.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) was liaising with British authorities about repatriating the man's body.
MFAT had had no calls from anyone about other New Zealanders, Mr McCully said.
"It's obviously a terrible tragedy," he said.
"Prime Minister (John) Key has taken the opportunity this morning of conveying the condolences of the New Zealand people to the Tongan Prime Minister, who is obviously here at the forum."
At least 33 people, many of them women and children, are feared dead after the sinking of the inter-island ferry, which was heading from Nuku'alofa to Ha'afeva, in the Nomuka Islands group.
The sinking was doubly tragic for the Pacific region as it followed last month's ferry sinking in Kiribati, which left 33 people dead, Mr McCully said.
New Zealand would help with marine safety issues, which would "definitely come under scrutiny".
Ha'afeva man Siaosi Lavaka told the Matangi Tonga website he saw one body recovered and only the men had reached the lifeboats after the MV Princess Ashika was overturned by heavy seas.
He feared none of the women and children survived.
Mr Lavaka, who was travelling with his mother, Lavinia, who remains missing, said waves went into the lower deck of the ferry where the crew were. The ferry rocked and he believed this caused the cargo to move to one side. The ferry then began to overturn and some passengers jumped off.
"We woke up to the sound of shouting and we jumped off," he said.
There were nine lifeboats and Mr Lavaka said seven were filled with male survivors. Another lifeboat was empty, and a ninth drifted away.
Mr Lavaka believed the women and children were sleeping and all were stuck inside the ferry when it went down.
Mike Roberts, of New Zealand's Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCCNZ), said of the 86 people on board the ferry, 53 had been picked up safe and well and one body had been found.
"Tongan police are working to establish exactly who is still missing and liaising with next of kin," Mr Roberts said.
A Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion would continue to search the area until dark, resuming tomorrow morning.
Four vessels, including Tongan Navy vessel Pangai, were searching and a fifth was on its way. They would continue searching overnight.
Conditions in the area were good for searching, and the water temperature remained about 25 degrees.
"We have excellent resources on hand to continue the search and information from the P3 Orion has enabled us to target areas of interest well. We are hopeful of finding more survivors," Mr Roberts said.
RCCNZ launched the rescue response after the Maritime Operations Centre picked up a mayday call from the Princess Ashika just before 11pm yesterday. A few minutes later, RCCNZ received a distress beacon alert from the vessel.
The ferry was reported to have sunk about 86km northwest of Nuku'alofa.
It was not known what caused it to sink.
Auckland University of Technology Professor of Tourism Simon Milne, who is in Tonga, told NZPA the ferry was carrying two ambulances, which were to be delivered to hospitals on the islands.
- NZPA, NZ HERALD STAFF
