A sad DARK day for TONGA

On Wednesday in the dark of night, sometime around 11pm the NEW (to Tonga) ferry boat capsized while out at sea, between islands. To no one's surprise the actual number of people on board was not officially recorded .... sooo here it is 3 days later and the count of missing people continues to rise. As of this morning it had surpassed 70.
In a nation of less than 100,000 people ... where; in one way or another EVERYONE is related .... the impact has been numbing. It is as if the whole nation is holding it's breath, waiting to be told what will happen next.

Official news is spotty and most people rely on rumors. I work at the Ministry of Transportation which is the Ministry that will be ultimately responsible for the inquiry.

Although I'm at the department of Civil Aviation and somewhat removed, I can feel the tension growing as many Tongans will be turning their grief to anger. As i sit at my desk I'm painfully aware of just how close we always are to a tragic events !!!! I'm also ever so grateful that in spite of our many blunders as human beings we are most often blessed with a grace that keeps us from harms way.

In Tonga there are volunteers from several nations. We might not know each other personally, but we are held together in a common bond of service. I'm saddened to know that one of the Japanese volunteers is included among the missing. My heart goes out to his family and his follow Japanese volunteers who will need to cope with his tragic loss at sea.