Tonga searchers find sunken ferry

New Zealand navy sonar caught this image of the sunken ferry

Searchers in Tonga have found what they believe is the ferry which sank last week, drowning an estimated 93 people.

New Zealand navy sonar images show what is thought to be the Princess Ashika lying intact on the Pacific Ocean floor at a depth of 110 metres (360 feet).

Tongan officials say they will await the results of a more detailed survey before deciding whether to try to recover the victims' bodies.

Dive experts say such an operation would cost millions of dollars.

Resting hulk

New Zealand navy images captured on Wednesday by sonar show what is thought to be the Princess Ashika largely intact and lying upright on the deep ocean floor surrounded by giant boulders, Commander Kelley said.

The navy is now waiting for the arrival at the weekend of HMNZS Manawanui before carrying out a more thorough search of the area.

The team commander says when the ship arrives it will provide a stable platform from which to deploy a remote operated device.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Feleti Sevele said no decision would be made on trying to recover the victims until more survey work had been done at the site.

The deep-sea equipment needed to access the hulk to search for bodies and clues to the tragedy is only available overseas, and such an operation would cost millions of dollars, New Zealand deep sea recovery specialist Bill Day said.

"That sort of stuff's done all day around the world, but you're talking about equipment that isn't in New Zealand and will have to be brought in to Tonga," he said.

"It's hundreds of thousands of dollars a day to run an operation like that," he told Radio New Zealand.

The cost, the potential hazards to divers and the months such an operation would need meant it was unlikely to happen.

"Very sad as it is, this may be one that's impossible to do", he added.

The identities of 37 of those missing and presumed drowned have been confirmed, police said, but some of the rest may never be known.

The chief inspector of Tongan police, Sokopeti To'ia, said families are "slowly accepting the fact that their loved ones won't be returned alive".

Officials said 149 people were on board the Princess Ashika when it sank, 54 survivors were rescued and two bodies recovered.

Clarifying who had died was difficult, police said, because names on the passenger manifest did not match other evidence about who was on board.

Police Commander Chris Kelley told reporters: "The process will take some time. Realistically, it may never be 100% accurate".

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