Kiribati Ferry Disaster

*NZ air force help Kiribati ferry search

July 17, 2009 - 1:14PM*

A Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion surveillance aircraft is flying from Vanuatu to Kiribati to help search for more than a dozen people missing after a ferry capsized.

The ferry toppled en route from Tarawa, the main island of the Kiribati group, to Maiana Island about midday on Monday.

It was understood to be carrying 45 people, five of whom swam ashore and raised the alarm.

Seven people have been confirmed dead and 18 are still missing.

RNZAF squadron leader Kavae Tamariki said the New Zealand rescue co-ordination centre had received a formal request for help.

The Orion left Vanuatu, where it was on surveillance patrol, early on Friday.

The RNZAF maintains a P-3K Orion and crew on 24-hour search and rescue call-out 365 days of the year.

The ferry was reported as a double hulled 17 meter canoe. It capsized (in rough weather) when the captain tried to rescue a crew member that fell into the ocean from the mast. The ferry was traveling from Tarawa to Maiana which is another atoll.

Im surprised that I didnt see this reported anywhere other than here

"Im surprised that I didnt see this reported anywhere other than here"

And therein lies the charm and problem for countries like Kiribati - other than us, how many other people know it exists, let alone where it is and how to pronounce it?

And if the waves come up and finally wash it all away, the population of the entire country will be relatively easily absorbed into NZ and / or Oz, and all that wil remain will be a shallow shoal in the vast, trackless Pacific.

I understand there is a conference about to start in Australia on global warming with delegates from all the low-lying Pacific countries. I was listening to a delegate from Micronesia on the ABC yesterday.
My friends from the Ontong Java atoll in Solomon Islands are taking global warming very seriously, and the largest artificial island, Walande in Malaita, is being abandoned.

15 confirmed dead in boat capsize
From correspondents in Wellington
Agence France-Presse
July 22, 2009 08:36pm

FIFTEEN people have been confirmed dead and 18 are missing after a boat capsized in the Pacific nation of Kiribati last week, police said today.
The head of the Kiribati police maritime service, John Mote, said 55 people were believed to have been on board a 17-metre double-hulled canoe when it capsized last week, Radio New Zealand International reported.

A total of 22 people survived the incident, which happened as the canoe was taking passengers from the capital Tarawa to the island of Maiana, about 60km to the south, he said.

The boat capsized during the attempted rescue of a crew member who fell into the water in rough conditions, officials said.

Five people were able to swim ashore to raise the alarm.

Kiribati groups 33 coral atolls straddling the equator, spread over an ocean area equal in size to the continental US.

I wish that there some news stories with the details of what happened on the Internet. I have been to Kiribati and it seemed like everyone was related. I can't understand why on earth it took so long to get back to the boat to rescue the survivors. Didn't they want to rescue their own relatives?