A Royal Commission of Inquiry in Tonga is trying to find out why the ship, the Princess Ashika sank on August 5th this year. 74 people died; 54 were rescued.

The commission, which is like a court with a judge, started in October. The commission sat for 18 days in October and November. Now there is a break until December 7th.

The commission heard that the ship was in a very bad condition. It had holes in the side, it was rusty and parts of it had new paint to cover the rust. The Tongan Shipping Corporation, which is owned by the Tongan government, bought the ship from Fiji in July. The CEO of the company, John Jonesse, is a New Zealand businessman. He has now lost his job with the shipping company because he did not check to see if the ship was safe. The Head of the Tongan Marine Authority gave the ship a temporary licence, not a full licence, because he knew it was unsafe. The captain also knew it was unsafe but he said he needed a job.

On the night of August 5th, the captain had been asleep. The chief mate woke him five minutes before the ship sank. He called for passengers to put on life jackets but they didn’t know where the life jackets were kept. Nobody had given the passengers any safety information.

The ship sank very quickly. Only two bodies were found. The other 72 went down with the ship.