The search continues....

As of today the count for unaccounted is 95 and still rising we fear. Maki has been on the phone a few times to Tonga and it is very somber there. Many people on edge just waiting for some news. We understand right now that this is a search and rescue, but boy the waiting sure is nerve racking. We feel like our whole life has been turned upside down. In the back of our minds we know that it is very LIKELY that Limoni's body will never be recovered. We are still holding out hope that he is in the ferry, locked up untouched. This is the newest update from the matangitonga.to website.

BAD WEATHER
We tried to go out this morning at 5:30 but the weather condition was very bad and we haven�t been able to conduct that second mission. In the meantime the vessel returned to anchor and the forecast weather for today and tomorrow are strong winds. "So it is unlikely that we will be able to conduct further operations today or tomorrow. We expect that we would not be able to deploy for the continued search mission until tomorrow night." Cmdr McMillan said to give people an expression of how difficult the task is "just imagine four or five rugby fields with a car there at night and use a torch to shine to try to find it. And then put 60 to 100m of water on top of that, with uneven ground where the vessel can hide behind a hill, is very challenging," he said. "The depth limitation for the sonar equipment is a 100m, if the wreckage is deeper, we do not have the capability to reach beyond that depth. The divers cannot go beyond 50m in depth."He said the alternative is there are other international organisations that are able to go deeper and it is of the Tongan Government to decide that.We are still in the very early days of the underwater search operation the environment we are working on is not a search and rescue mission, it takes time and it has taken all this time to search, he said.

So as the search continues for our loved ones so does the search continue here for donated items to be sold at our Fundraiser. Please if you have ANYTHING that you're no longer using and would like to donate we'd love to have it. We can pick it up or you can drop it off to us. We're just under 2 weeks until this event. Monetary donations are greatly appreciated too. Thanks for all those who are so willing to help. I couldn't do this by myself. You can reach me at 916-677-6919.