Dozens are missing and feared dead. Police say a ferry operator listed 96 people as aboard the Princess Ashika when it went down around midnight Wednesday, about 55 miles (85 kilometers) northeast of Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa.

Some 53 people have been rescued, so far, all of them men. Giving women and children the comfort of cabins while men stayed on deck may have doomed them to be trapped inside the ferry which capsized in heavy seas off Tonga, officials said yesterday.

"No women or children made it," passenger Siaosi Lavaka was quoted as saying by the Matangi Tonga website after he was brought ashore with the other male survivors who managed to cram aboard the ferry's seven or eight lifeboats.

Confirmed deaths

Only two deaths have been confirmed so far. New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said one of them was a British citizen. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, hosting a summit of South Pacific leaders, indicated the toll was expected to rise.

"There has been considerable loss of life," Rudd said in the northern Australian city of Cairns. "Our thoughts and our prayers are with the families of those that have been affected by this great tragedy."

Concerned family and members of the community gather near the ports of the Tongan capital, Nuku'alofa, yesterday, waiting for news after a ferry carrying 49 passengers and 30 crew sank at around midnight Wednesday.