Fifteen minutes before the Princess Ashika sank with the loss of 74 lives, passengers were asked to help bail, a survivor has said,

In a special report, Vaimoana Tapaleao talks to the families of ferry victims with ties to New Zealand, so they will not be forgotten.

When I heard John Glennie's "Gidday Blossom" on the phone this week, I knew nothing had changed.

Alex Macdonald says he was kept in Tongan police custody for five days, accused of killing his skipper.

It's a story that reads like the plot of a movie thriller - lost in the Pacific.

Impoverished island kingdom would need outside help to fund the recovery of the vessel or the bodies trapped in it.

Former All Black Va'aiga Tuigamala says some of his wife's relatives were among those who perished in last week's tragedy.

Depth of the sunken ferry Princess Ashika means the recovery of the 93 bodies trapped inside would be a prohibitively costly, lengthy and dangerous process.

Tonga's King has committed an act so foolish that it bears comparison with some of the biggest political clangers of recent history.