WELLINGTON, New Zealand: A ferry that sank earlier this month while sailing between two islands in the remote Pacific nation of Kiribati had been ordered not to carry passengers because of earlier damage, the government said Wednesday.
About 80 people are missing, although the government has not confirmed the exact number. A New Zealand military plane using radar found a small wooden dinghy on Sunday that was carrying seven survivors who told rescuers the ferry sank.
Kiribati, which has about 108,000 people, declared a week of prayer as the search for more survivors continued. The US and Australia have joined New Zealand in the search, as have several fishing boats in the area.
Government spokesman Tearinibeia Enoo-Teabo said maritime authorities had ordered the MV Butiraoi, a 17.5-meter (57-foot) wooden catamaran, not to carry any passengers before it left because it had sustained serious damage to its navigational system, rudders and hull. It was unclear whether any repairs had been made.
He said investigators are going to the island to find out more about the passenger count and why the ferry left despite the orders.
Other questions remain, including why it took Kiribati authorities so long to tell New Zealand officials the ferry was missing.
The ferry left Nonouti Island bound for South Tarawa on Jan. 18, according to authorities, a journey, which was supposed to take two days. New Zealand rescuers said they were not told about the missing boat until Friday, eight days after the ferry had left.
Enoo-Teabo said they believe at least 80 passengers and five crewmembers were aboard.
New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Center said they are continuing to search for a more substantial life raft that may have been launched from the sinking ferry and which was designed to carry 25 people.
The seven survivors told rescuers they had drifted for four days in the blazing sun and had no water. They were found more than 180 kilometers (112 miles) from the nearest major island.
The crew of the Orion plane dropped supplies to the survivors and then a fishing boat picked them up. They have since transferred to a Kiribati marine patrol with a doctor aboard. New Zealand authorities identified the survivors as three men, three women, and a 14-year-old girl. All are described as being in reasonable health.
Ferry that sank in Pacific was ordered not to carry people
Ferry that sank in Pacific was ordered not to carry people
Trump insists he struck Iran on his own terms
- “We are now a nation divided between those who want to fight wars for Israel and those who just want peace and to be able to afford their bills and health insurance,” Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X.
- Rubio himself doubled down on Tuesday after meeting with US House and Senate members, while insisting that “No, I told you this had to happen anyway”
WASHINGTON, United States: President Donald Trump and his team scrambled Tuesday to reclaim the narrative on why he decided to attack Iran, after his top diplomat suggested the US struck only after learning of an imminent Israeli strike.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio alarmed Democrats — who say only Congress can declare war — as well as many of Trump’s MAGA supporters on Monday when he said: “We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action.”
“We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio told reporters.
Administration officials quickly backpedalled, insisting Trump authorized the strikes because Tehran was not seriously negotiating an accord on limiting its nuclear ambitions, and the United States needed to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities.
“No, Marco Rubio Didn’t Claim That Israel Dragged Trump into War with Iran,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted Tuesday on X.
At an Oval Office meeting later with Germany’s chancellor, Trump went further, saying that “Based on the way the negotiation was going, I think they (Iran) were going to attack first. And I didn’t want that to happen.”
“So, if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand.”
- Had to happen? -
Rubio himself doubled down on Tuesday after meeting with US House and Senate members, while insisting that “No, I told you this had to happen anyway.”
“The president made a decision. The decision he made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide... behind this ability to conduct an attack.”
Critics seized on the muddied messaging to accuse Trump of precipitating the country into a war without a clear rationale, without informing Congress — and without a clear idea of how it might end.
They noted that just two weeks ago, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed Trump again in Washington to take a hard line, in their seventh meeting since Trump’s return to power last year.
Some Republican allies rallied behind the president, with Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, insisting that “No one pushes or drags Donald Trump anywhere.”
“He acts in the vital national security interest of the United States,” Cotton told the “Fox & Friends” morning show.
But as crucial US midterm elections approach that could see Republicans lose their congressional majority, Trump risks shedding supporters who had welcomed his pledge to end foreign military interventions.
“We are now a nation divided between those who want to fight wars for Israel and those who just want peace and to be able to afford their bills and health insurance,” Marjorie Taylor Greene, a top former Trump ally and a major figure in the populist and isolationist hard right, posted on X.
