SYDNEY, Sept 13 (Reuters) – At least one person was confirmed dead and more than 30 were missing on Sunday after a ferry sank off Vanuatu’s coast, Prime Minister Jotham Napat’s office said in a statement.
Search and rescue operations were continuing in the Pacific Island nation located about 1,750 km (1,090 miles) east of Australia after the MV Matui went down with dozens of crew and passengers on board, the statement posted on Facebook said.
Fifteen of those have been accounted for alive, it added.
Search efforts had been underway since the inter-island ferry sank in bad weather on Friday between the islands of Ambae and Santo, according to New Zealand public broadcaster RNZ.
Napat’s office said the search “in open waters is being eased off whilst efforts move toward a search along the south-east coast, where currents may have carried survivors”.
“This loss appears to be the result of strong winds and marine warnings not being heeded, and possibly of negligence including overloading of the vessel,” the statement said.
“To the survivors, we pray for your strength and recovery. To the families of those missing and those we have lost, please know that the nation stands with you in this time of grief,” it said, adding that an investigation would be carried out.
Matai Seremaiah, representative of the Luganville area in Vanuatu’s parliament, said rescue efforts commenced after an MV Matui crew member swam ashore and raised the alarm.
“He alerted us that the ship has capsized, we went out for the search,” Seremaiah said in remarks broadcast by RNZ.
Vanuatu police, the Vanuatu Maritime Safety Authority and the ferry’s operator, Tui Shipping Agency, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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