Searchers find Tongan ferry

The wreck of the sunken Tongan ferry Princess Ashika has been found a week after it
went down, but wild weather and deep seas have stopped divers from reaching it.
Australian and New Zealand Navy searchers found the doomed boat in 110 metres of
water on Wednesday morning in the same location where one of two bodies was found
floating.
Almost 95 bodies are believed to be on board the boat, most women and children who
were trapped on the lower floors when the vessel went down quickly and quietly late
last Wednesday night.
Rescuers managed to save 54 people, all men, who were able to escape on life rafts.
Tonga's police commander Chris Kelley said the boat "fits the general size and shape
of the missing ship".
The on-site team had not yet visually confirmed the identity of the vessel but sonar
information gave "a high level of confidence that it is the Princess Ashika", he
said.
It was found just 11 nautical miles southwest of the town of Nomuka in Ha'apai,
where it was headed.
Dashing the desperate hopes of relatives, the police chief delivered the grim news:
"It is important to realise that nobody on board could still be alive".
Despite the find, any moves to explore the vessel will be hampered for several days
due to deteriorating weather conditions and depth limitations for navy divers.
A New Zealand dive boat, the HMNZS Manawanui, will arrive in the capital Nuku'alofa
on Saturday with a deep diving remote operated vehicle.
"This underwater vehicle will provide images that will give 100 per cent certainty
to the identity of the vessel," Kelley said.
But this equipment required calm conditions so "further development on the site are
very much at the mercy of the weather", the chief said.
Meanwhile, The Tongan government has announced a royal commission of inquiry into
the tragedy.
It is still not known why the ferry sunk, but several reports suggest it had been
taking in water in the weeks before and was not seaworthy.
Built in 1972, the ageing vessel had been purchased from Fiji as a temporary stop
gap until a new boat could be delivered from Japan in 2011, and had only been in
operation in Tonga for six weeks.
Tongan Transport Minister Paul Karalus, who has been under fire over the purchase,
resigned from his post on Tuesday but said he was not taking responsibility for the
disaster.
Several experienced seamen, including the boat's rescued skipper Maka Tuputupu, have
said the boat was not seaworthy.
A surveyor in charge of carrying out checks on the ferry, Mosese Fakatoa, told the
Matangi Tonga website it "was not in good condition" but he didn't get the chance to
finish his report on it.