The much-anticipated Final Report into the Sinking of the MV Princess Ashika will be presented to HM King George Tupou V on Wednesday, March 31 in Nuku'alofa.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry office confirmed that the report would be presented by the three Commissioners, Chairman Justice Warwick Andrew, Richard James a Naval Architect and Engineer and Michael Handfield, a Master Mariner.

The commissioners will present their report to HM King George Tupou V at the Consular House at 11 am. The Lord Chamberlain Viela Tupou that the presentation will be closed to the media.

Under its Terms of Reference the Royal Commission is required to present its final report the King in Council and the Legislative Assembly no later than March 31, 2010.

At this stage it has not been confirmed when the report would be made available to the public following its submission to the king.

Civil responsibility

The final report is expected to be comprehensive and address each of the terms of reference that includes the facts about the disaster, the accompanying search, rescue and recovery of disaster victims; the cause of the disaster, evidence leading to any criminal act contributing to the disaster and evidence leading to any civil responsibility for the disaster.

Initially, on November 27, 2009 the Commission published an Interim Report and stated that it needed to hear more witnesses and consider other evidence.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry, which sat for 54 days, was adjourned indefinitely on March 12.