At least one person has died and more than 30 remain missing after an inter-island ferry sank off the coast of Vanuatu on Friday, with search and rescue teams now concentrating efforts along the island nation's southeast coast. The office of Prime Minister Jotham Napat confirmed in a statement on Sunday that 15 people had been accounted for alive and one body recovered, while over 30 passengers and crew were still missing at sea.
The vessel, MV Matui, departed the island of Santo on Friday bound for Ambae island — both located in the north of the Vanuatu archipelago — carrying more than 40 passengers and crew. It never arrived. Vanuatu is a Pacific island nation of roughly 320,000 people, spread across more than 80 islands, where inter-island ferries are a primary mode of transport. The ship encountered very rough seas and strong winds, and authorities say marine safety warnings appear to have gone unheeded.
The government's statement pointed to possible negligence as a contributing factor, noting the vessel may have been overloaded. "This loss appears to be the result of strong winds and marine warnings not being heeded, and possibly of negligence including overloading of the vessel," Napat's office said, adding that a full investigation would follow to establish the facts and prevent a recurrence. Vanuatu police, the country's Maritime Safety Authority and the ferry's operator, Tui Shipping Agency, had not immediately responded to requests for comment.
Search operations in open waters were scaled back as efforts shifted toward the southeast coastline, where local currents are believed to have carried survivors or wreckage. A French Armed Forces aircraft was deployed on Sunday morning to assist, coordinated through the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Nouméa, New Caledonia — the French territory lying roughly 500 kilometres to the southwest of Vanuatu. The centre reported that 12 people had been located on Sunday morning. Matai Seremaiah, the member of parliament for Luganville — a port city on Santo island — is among those assisting in the search effort.
"To the survivors, we pray for your strength and recovery. To the families of those missing and those we have lost, please know that the nation stands with you in this time of grief," Napat's office said. The disaster raises broader questions about maritime safety standards in the Pacific, where remote island communities depend heavily on sea transport and vessels operating in challenging open-ocean conditions.