2009 was a bad year for ferries – in the Pacific and elsewhere. On 13 July 2009 an inter-island ferry sailing between Tarawa and Maiana in Kiribati overturned with the loss of 33 of the ship’s 55 passengers and crew. The ferry was a 17 m double-hulled wood catamaran. It capsized when the captain attempted to turn around to rescue a crew member who had been swept overboard in high seas. Less than a month later M/V Princess Ashika capsized and sank on a voyage between Nuku’alofa and Ha’apai in Tonga.

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