Search for ferry survivors to be transferred

DATE: 8 AUGUST 2008 TIME : 2.15PM

Search for ferry survivors to be transferred

A search for survivors from the inter-island ferry Princess Ashika, which sank near Nuku’alofa, Tonga on Wednesday, will this afternoon be transferred to Tongan authorities, after an aerial and on-water search this morning failed to find any further sign of survivors.

Two people have so far been confirmed dead, while 53 survivors have been picked up since the ferry sunk about 46 nautical miles (86km) North West of Nuku’alofa, late on Wednesday evening. A total of 141 people are now believed to have been on board the ship, leaving 86 unaccounted for.

Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) search and rescue mission coordinator
Geoff Lunt said after careful analysis of all the search data gathered since the ferry sank late on Wednesday (NZDT), and with poor weather now restricting the Royal New Zealand Airforce P3 Orion’s ability to continue to search safely, the decision had been made to withdraw the aircraft. RCCNZ was now collating the search data collected so far and was preparing to hand coordination of the rescue over to Tongan police, he said.

“Despite an intensive search over the last three and a half days, there has been no new information or any further sign of survivors from the ferry. In the absence of any positive sightings, and with low cloud and poor visibility hampering the search, at this stage we believe there is little more the Orion can do. However, once the formal handover has taken place, we will continue to assist Tongan authorities in any way we can and may look at resending resources to Tonga if any new information comes to light.”

Mr Lunt thanked all of those who had been involved in the search so far, including the Royal New Zealand Defence Force, the New Zealand Police, Tongan Police, the Tongan Navy, the Tongan High Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the skippers of a number of private and commercial vessels who had responded to calls for assistance.

Mr Lunt said an RNZAF Orion and a surface vessel had spent part of the morning searching an area of around 130 square nautical miles (240km2) around the Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai Atolls, about 35NM (65km) North West of Nuku’alofa, without success. Other vessels had also been on standby.

Dive teams from the Australian and New Zealand Defence Forces are also expected to begin efforts to recover the bodies of those still believed to be on board the vessel. These efforts are being coordinated directly by Tongan authorities and the respective Defence forces.

RCCNZ launched the rescue response after the Maritime Operations Centre (New Zealand Maritime Radio) picked up a mayday call from the Princess Ashika just before 11pm on Wednesday. A few minutes later, RCCNZ received a distress beacon alert from the vessel, which was heading from Nuku’alofa to Ha’afeva, in the Nomuka Islands group.

ENDS

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