Excellent point by Peter Sanders, I'm Tongan and I agree the King is a berk, the people need a leader to make them see sense. It is natural to assign blame. Perhaps Akilisi is such a man. doubtful though.

I am SAD reading the above messages to think that Tonga does not prioritise the lives of its people before all else. We cannot be judges to who is to blame but I will agree that this is a joint responsibility between Government officials and the Captain of the ship that this ferry should not be carrying people if their safety is at hand. I am disgusted to hear that his Majesty has gone on holiday while people are mourning their love ones and that there is an issue with money. Those people have the rights to be recovered regardless of cost and whom is responsible for cost. They paid a fair price to be transported safely and they ended up paying with their lives. I hope this becomes a wake up call for those Tongans who put the Royals before their own lives and their families because when it comes to the crunch, they DONT CARE about your everyday people. So sad for all those whom lost loved ones but know that they are in peace and with Heavenly Father. May peace be with them all. ofa atu to all those that were lost. Val Canberra

Tongan People who lost their love ones,have our sympathy and our condolence whish God will give you all strength and able to get on with your dairly life. As a Tongan I would like NZ Goverment to help to buy and replace a good FERRY for the safety of my people in Tonga.NZ aids should allocate for the new Ferry.

After all is said & done, da spirit of those who passed away are now in a far better place. People of Tonga do need da time to mourn but life goes on. Remember da ones who are left behind & comfort each other. There is no need to point fingers nomatter whose to blame...God is you only judge. I do understand da need to bring those bodies back frm da sea, but Tonga cannot afford such large sum of money & even if Tonga has it(frm worldwide donations, I assume), why not put it in to good use to help the living...in memory of those who lost in this tragegy. Tonga do not need another riot.. why camp outside the shipping comp demanding da bodies to be brought up while they know for sure that the divers don't have da necessary equipment to do dat. I feel their pain but at da same time, be Reasonable.

God Bless Tonga

Rest in peace to those love ones that lost their lives in this very sad tragedy.the government is blaming for this and i would like the people of Tonga to open up their eyes now and look deeply inside the government,they are greedy,shelfish,heartless.what kind of leadership in Tonga while the whole country mourning for this tragedy the heartless,shelfish,arrogant king of Tonga is going overseas and spenting thousand and thousand of dollars enjoying himself in a holiday.why we need a king for Tonga?so he can be loyal,taking the aid money and enjoying himself for doing nothing to the country,time to think deep and time for a change so this thing wont happen again.thanks for the Prime minister and new zealand government for all the help and support for this small nation on this sad tragedy,this is the kind of leadership we would like to see Tonga.OFA LAHI ATU to all the victim of this tragedy

lets faace it neither Tonga nor NZ can afford it. This is the time that big brother USA navy should step up to help its friends.ONly they have the resources. If anything should drive Tonga to the china goverment it is this.USA Navy now is the time to show you are a friend

The King of Tonga, should open up the royal purse and pay for the bodies to be retrieved. It is a huge cost for a small and unproductive backwater like Tonga and I don't want to hear that the NZ taxpayer is being called in to pay for it, enough aid money already falls in to black holes all over the Pacific. The NZ taxpayer had to fork out for the re-building of Nukalofa a few years ago when the riots occurred and shops and businesses were razed by hooligans, I am sick of propping up useless economies like Tonga with their King and Royal family - let them pay for it. I am so sad for the families that lost loved ones, but Tongans should turn their anger on to the King and demand a revolution into the modern world of democracy and transparency.

Re Julietta No 11, No it wouldn't.

Assuming the bodies are in the wreck, I know where the body is, so it provides a focus for grieving.

I could not support spending millions of dollars to recover the corpse of my family member any more than I would expect the state to spend that sort of money to recover a body from an unknown location floating in the sea by sending out a fleet of trawlers and spotter planes for days on end. Look at what was done when Sonny Fai drowned. After a couple of days of searching, a dignified watch was kept for his body, they didn't call out the navy dive team etc to go up and down the coast for days and days.

That is different of course to searching for a person possibly surviving. I would expect the state to mount an appropriate search.

This is a tragedy, of course, those who remain, the people of Tonga must decide the way forward. I am suggesting a way that would leave a permanent memorial to these victims, rather than a debt. If a hospital or school etc were named for them, then they would be remembered every time someone spoke or read of the place.

Depending on how long it takes, if recovery is mounted, the bodies may be in such condition that the coffins would not be open anyway.

The sea they are in bathes the islands and provides life to the people of Tonga. They will simply be returned to that nurturing ecosystem more quickly than if they were buried and left to decompose in the ground.

I JUST WANT TO SAY HOW I REALLY FEEL, I FEEL VERY SAD FOR WHAT HAVE HAPPENNED, TO ALL MY FELLOW BROTHERS AND SISTER THAT HAVE LOST LOVE ONE INCLUDE MYSELF I HAVE LOST A FRIEND, AND FEW PEOPLE FROM MY ISLAND 'Uiha. Its not worth fighting or hurting or killing someone even blaming someone for this disaster, all i can say and thats how i understand, I know god live he have taken these people back to him, he will do the judgement at the last day. i do pray that he will put his comforting hands all over the family that have lost there love ones, mother, father , brother, sister, cousin, huspand, wife , and children, i cant help tears run down from my face i feel it deep in me how these family mourn, my wife is a palangi she mourn with me, i can bring those back but i know that will see them again.

Please remember that following the riots in Nuku'alofa, after 6 people were killed, the government called upon Australia and New Zealand to investigate. The government wanted to point out the wrong-doings of the people of Tonga and demonstrate that the government was not to blame. Where are those commissions now that over 90 people are suspected dead? With a national population of a little over 100,000, 90+ people is a significant number of people. May they rest in peace.