Papua New Guinea ferry sinks with 362 people on board

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — An air and sea search continued Friday for more than 120 people still missing in the sea off Papua New Guinea's east coast after a ferry sank with 362 people on board, officials said.

Owners of MV Rabaul Queen, Papua New Guinea-based Rabaul Shipping Company, said Friday there had been 350 passengers and 12 crew aboard the 22-year-old Japanese-built ferry when it went down Thursday morning while traveling from Kimbe on the island of New Britain to the coastal city of Lae on the main island.

"We are stunned and utterly devastated by what has happened," managing director Peter Sharp said in a statement.

By nightfall Thursday, 238 survivors had been rescued by merchant ships battling 16-foot (5-meter) swells and 45 mph (75 kph) winds at the disaster scene 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Lae and 10 miles (16 kilometers) from shore, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.

The survivors were delivered to Lae, the South Pacific country's second largest city, by five ships early Friday, said the AMSA, which is assisting Papua New Guinea authorities with the rescue operation.

The search continued at first light on Friday with three ships, two airplanes and two helicopters, AMSA said.

An angry crowd threw stones at the Kimbe office of Rabaul Shipping Company on Thursday night, outraged at a lack of information, police said.

"There were a lot of people crying and then they wanted to know the fate of their loved ones, the people actually who were on board," Kimbe Police Inspector Samson Siguyaru told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"I had to send in the police to rescue (staff and), get them out of the office to a location where it is safe," he added.

Siguyaru said the passengers were mostly students returning to school at Lae.

An official at the scene said the ferry capsized in rough seas and sank four hours later, Papua New Guinea's Post-Courier newspaper reported.

National Weather Service chief Sam Maiha said shipping agencies had been warned to keep ships moored this week because of strong winds, the newspaper said.

The ferry's owner said the cause of the disaster remained unclear,

The company said the ferry's captain had made routine radio contact with another vessel before sinking and gave no indication anything was wrong.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said the cause of the accident was unknown, but acknowledged that safety in the shipping industry was lax.

"We need to bring some safety measures back into this industry," O'Neill told reporters.

Papua New Guinea's National Maritime Safety Authority rescue coordinator Captain Nurur Rahman there had been no reports of bodies being found and that he remained hopeful of finding more survivors in the tropical waters Friday.

"I'm always hopeful," he said. "People have survived up to two days in these waters."

Most of the survivors were uninjured, although one had a dislocated shoulder, he said.