First sight of sunken Tonga ferry

BENEATH THE WAVES: The first image of the Tonga ferry that sank with 93 bodies still believed to be on board.

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A dramatic sonar image of the sunken Tongan ferry Princess Ashika has been released by the Royal New Zealand Navy.

The ferry sank a week ago north of Nuku'alofa and is believed to have at least 93 bodies aboard.

The image was captured by a Navy sonar system.

"Note the similarity to the surface picture including bow section with ramp, bridge area and passenger compartment," the navy says.

"The large balls in the picture are very large rock spheres."

It sits on the sea bed 110 metres below the surface. Standard diving is limited to a depth of 50 metres.

At least 149 people were on board when the ferry capsized 86km northeast of the Tongan capital of Nuku'alofa last Wednesday. Two bodies and 54 survivors have been found, while 93 people were presumed drowned after being trapped in the vessel.

The New Zealand Navy was confident sonar images had pinpointed the vessel yesterday, sitting upright and intact in 110m of water, too deep to dive on.

However poor weather has stalled efforts to send a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) down to the boat.