Hopes fading for missing passengers [1]
Thursday, August 6, 2009 - 22:41. Updated on Thursday, August 6, 2015 - 12:00.
A total of 55 people are accounted for but an unconfirmed number are still missing at sea after the sinking of the MV Princess Ashika in Ha'apai, waters last night, and now nearly 24 hours after the disaster families in Tonga and abroad are trying to come to terms with their losses.
It is not clear exactly how many people were onboard. The official figures are 79, but others sources say that there were actually up to 96 crew and passengers.
Issuing a police report at 3:50 pm today, Chief Inspector Sokopeti To'ia, said their figures were based on the Ship's Manifest Record, which listed 79 people on board the MV Princess Ashika.
"Realistically, we believe there were more passengers on board but we could not confirm at this stage how many they are," she said.
She added they had confirmed 28 crew were accounted for along with 27 passengers. She said eight survivors got off at Ha'afeva, while the rest of the survivors were now in Pangai.
The police said that no deaths or bodies had been confirmed at this stage but they would update media afterwards.
Niu'ui Hospital
However, the receptionist at Niu'ui Hospital in Ha'apai confirmed that the body of a European man is in the morgue. She said three other survivors had been admitted to the hospital.
The Captain Maka Tuputupu who was found drifting in a liferaft with another man, is now in hospital suffering from shock.
Families
Meanwhile, the families of those missing are preparing themselves for the worst. Nine of the missing have been named by their families and friends.
This morning, 'Akanesi Havili from Fasi said that her son Mone, a crew member, is safe. But their friends who were passengers traveling to Pangai for a wedding, Valele 'Elone, the groom; his cousin, Veuso 'Elone; and friend Matoni 'Aho are missing. They were from the All Saints Anglican Church of Fasi.
Nomiola Hikila (73) of Ma'ufanga said his son Tupou (39) is missing. Tupou was going to see his wife who is in Ha'afeva visiting family.
Also from Ha'afeva, Lavinia Lavaka, a checkout sales assistant at E. M. Jones Ltd. in Nuku'alofa, learned that her brother Siaosi Lavaka was saved but her mother Kalolaine Lavaka remains missing.
Meanwhile, a Christchurch woman, Elisapeta Tahahau 'Ofa told The Press newspaper that she awoke to the devastating news that her mother, and youngest brother and sister were feared drowned in the ferry disaster. Her 63-year-old mother, Atelete Mailangi, was travelling with Baula Mailangi (20), who was born with down syndrome, and a sister Tapuaki Mailangi. Elisapeta will fly to Tonga on Saturday.
A Japanese senior volunteer Hiroshi Umeda (70) a Specialist Marine Electrical Engineer worked for the shipping company is missing. Hiroshi had a joyful occasion in Tonga when he was photographed meeting with Tonga's King Taufa'ahau Tupou V at the opening of the Japanese Embassy in Nuku'alofa on May 30 [2]. A JICA spokesperson in Tonga said this evening that Hiroshi's family in Japan had expressed a wish that his photograph should not be published following the disaster.