Ferry disaster: NZ divers head to Tonga

Medical staff stand by at Pangai on Lifuka Island to help survivors of the sinking of the Princess Ashika. Photo / Emily Penn

A team of New Zealand navy divers will leave for Tonga tonight to join the search for 62 people missing, presumed drowned, following the sinking of the Princess Ashika.

The inter-island ferry was heading from Nuku'alofa to Ha'afeva, in the Nomuka Islands group, when it sank moments after issuing a mayday call. It has been located in 35m of water, about 86km northeast of Nuku'alofa.

Fifty-three people have been rescued and two bodies recovered, but 62 people remain missing, presumed drowned.

Prime Minister John Key announced this afternoon a team of 12 navy divers and a three-member remote search team would leave for Tonga this evening aboard an air force Hercules.

The remote search team would operate an underwater search vessel alongside the dive team.

New Zealand already has an air force Orion searching the area.

Mr Key, in Cairns with Tongan Prime Minister Dr Fred Sevele for the Pacific Islands Forum, said the Government had expressed its deep condolences to the people of Tonga.

"We have been very distressed to hear about the sinking of the ferry and the loss of life," he said.

Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia would send divers, medical support and offer the use of a C-130 Hercules aircraft.

Dr Sevele told reporters at the forum there were "peculiarities in the currents and the waves" in the area where the ferry sunk.

A ferry had sunk nearby in 1994, and another one previous to that.

"So I don't think it was the ship's seaworthiness that was the cause of it," he said.

He had spoken to the managing director of the Shipping Corporation of Polynesia, who had assured him the Princess Ashika had a certificate of seaworthiness and was insured.

The Princess Ashika had been put into service only recently due to problems with another inter-island ferry and was "the best we could do".

"Nobody would like to get something that's going to end up like this," he said.

Dr Sevele defended his decision to stay at the forum rather than head home immediately upon hearing of the tragedy, saying he needed to sign an agreement this morning and that it also allowed him to personally ask Mr Key and Mr Rudd for help.

His presence at home "wouldn't have made much difference", he said.

He would arrive back in Nuku'alofa, where people were protesting over the state of the ferry, tomorrow night.

"People are always upset when something like this has happened, that's normal," Dr Sevele said.

"We expect that and we hope to deal with that in a rational way."

Tonga's monarch, King George Tupou V, had been advised of the tragedy but left for a planned trip to Scotland regardless.

Dr Sevele said he would not have advised the king to delay his trip.

"We can deal with it," he said.

Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) search and rescue mission coordinator John Dickson said two vessels were involved in the search today and were following directions from the trained observers on the Orion.

These included two Tongan navy patrol boats on alternating shifts and one commercial vessel. A second commercial vessel was standing by at anchor near Nomuka Island to assist in the recovery of any survivors.

"There is still a significant amount of debris in the water, and we are targeting those areas," Mr Dickson said.

"Clearly survival rates after this length of time are of concern but we remain hopeful of finding more survivors."

Women and children had been particularly hard hit by the tragedy, with most thought to have died as they were sleeping in cabins below deck when the ferry sank, giving them no chance of escape.

"It is common ... that the male passengers stay above deck and we assume that is why there are more male survivors," 'Ofa Guttenbeil Likiliki, of the Tonga National Centre for Women and Children, told Radio New Zealand today.

- NZPA