Second body, identified as 22 year old mother [1]
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 23:19. Updated on Thursday, August 6, 2015 - 12:20.
Tonga police have identified the female body recovered from the sea, as 22-year-old wife and mother, Vaefetu'u Mahe (nee Taufa) of Vava'u, whose husband and child are among the 93 still missing after the sinking of MV Princess Ashika on August 5.
Police Commander Chris Kelley today confirmed that the victim's family was located yesterday and they had formally identified her.
He stressed that the Tonga Police were still trying to establish the exact number of passengers on board. And he asked that the public contact the police if they believed a relative might have been on board.
"Because up to yesterday we had reports that two foreign nationals were believed was to be on board but now they have made contact and were not on board. This shows that things can change very quickly, and that is why it is vital to accurately determine who was on the vessel," he said.
The Commander said that the list of those unaccounted for would be available hopefully tomorrow, Wednesday, and they would progressively build on the list of names in the next few days to accurately determine the number of people who were on board.
Might not recover
At the same time he cautioned the public that they might not be able to recover the sunken vessel or any more survivors.
"People should prepare themselves with that possibility that we might not. But I am hopeful and pray that we do."
He said at day six of the Princess Ashika operation, although he is optimistic that they may find some survivors, or some people out there, "realistically the chances of survival now will be almost nil."
"We have the covered the area so extensively both on the surface and the aerial search and I believe if there had there been people out there we would have found them. Within the sunken vessel, realistically the chances of survival is zero."