Tongan police say they are still finding out how many people were actually aboard the Princess Ashika as the suspected death toll rises to 95.
People are packing churches across the tiny Pacific island kingdom in a day of mourning today, following last Wednesday's disaster where the ferry flipped and sank.
Tongan police commander Chris Kelley told NZPA there was a list of 149 names for people on the ferry. Fifty-four people survived, two bodies were recovered and the rest unaccounted for, he said.
It was initially reported that only 79 were aboard and the rise to 149 was considerable.
"I think there is a complete manifest that is held by a crew member on the boat when it sailed, but of course that would have been lost in the sinking.
"What we are faced is that people are telling us is they put people on the boat and they weren't on the manifest that was supplied here."
Five foreigners were among the missing. Four were French or German - the breakdown was not exactly known - and one Japanese. Seven children were unaccounted for.
The identities of the foreigners were not yet confirmed.
One of the two bodies, a Polynesian woman, was still unidentified but Mr Kelley confirmed the other body was that of Daniel Macmillan, originally from Britain but who had recently been living in Christchurch.
"I do find it unusual that we have only recovered two bodies, given the magnitude of the disaster," Mr Kelley said.
However, after interviewing 48 of the 54 survivors it appeared the ferry came to grief extremely quickly.
Police had spoken to the ship's master, who had since been discharged from hospital, and the speed of the disaster was borne out from his statements.
The master put out an call at 23.50 and then a few minutes later the emergency beacon went off, which happens when it is immersed in water.
Mr Kelley said he was not in a position to comment on the cause.
"Clearly with such a disastrous event as this there is a very sombre mood, people are absolutely devastated by this."
A large number of Tongan families would be touched, either by having family members affected, or know people aboard the ferry, he said.
This afternoon locally chartered aircraft and surface vessels were searching for the wreckage. Navy divers from Australia and New Zealand were to continue trying to locate the ferry which was en route from Nuku'alofa to outlying Ha'afeva.
Survivors said it went down quickly when cargo appeared to shift and people below decks had no time to escape.
The ferry was initially located in about 35 metres of water but may have slipped further on the uneven seabed to a depth of about 100 metres.
Mr Kelley said it was possible searchers might not locate the vessel.
Survivors described the ferry rocking violently from side to side and waves breaking the lower deck before it went under, though officials said weather conditions were mild.
One survivor, Viliami Latu Mohenoa, told Matangi Tonga magazine that he saw crew members using buckets to bail out water that had filled the lower deck, but the buckets were too small to keep up with the incoming water. A 1m wave then hit the boat, he said, knocking the cargo to one side of the ferry and causing it to flip over.
State-owned Shipping Corp. of Polynesia said the ferry was licensed to carry 200 passengers plus crew, suggesting it was not overcrowded. Tongan Transport Minister Paul Karalus said the ferry was recently inspected, and there was "no question about its seaworthiness."
Many of those missing were women and children who had been given cabins below deck and may have been trapped inside when the ferry sank about 85km northeast of Nuku'alofa, officials say.
Most of the male passengers remained on the upper decks during the journey, and the survivors so far were all men.
