NUKUALOFA (AFP) - At least 66 people were feared dead Friday after a ferry disaster in Tonga which the prime minister described as devastating for the tiny Pacific kingdom. As grieving relatives gathered at the wharf in the capital Nukualofa, singing hymns for comfort and expressing anger the ageing vessel was allowed to sail, PM Feleti Sevele said hope was fading for the missing. The hopes for the rest are not promising, unfortunately, Sevele told journalists at a meeting of Pacific leaders in Australia. Its a very sad day ... its quite huge for a population of 100,000, a small place, devastating. Officials said only 53 survivors had been found from the 119 believed to have be on board the 34-year-old Princess Ashika, which turned over and sank at speed overnight on Wednesday. Most on board were Tongans but the incomplete passenger list also included British, German, French and Japanese nationals. Police said the lack of accurate records meant the number of missing could be higher. The missing included 21 women and seven children who were sleeping below decks when the ferry sank. Two bodies have been found, including one of a British man. Dive teams from the New Zealand and Australian navies were to fly in late Friday to help recover bodies from the sunken ferry, which is lying in 35 metres (115 feet) of water. Ferries are an essential mode of transport in Tonga, a sprawling island nation, and elsewhere in the Pacific. A ferry sinking last month in Kiribati left 33 people dead. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said it was a large human tragedy for what is at the end of the day a small community in Tonga. Tongas King Siaosi Tupou V however left his mourning nation on Friday to fly to Scotland for a holiday. He was aware as he was about to leave, he was informed of the tragedy, Sevele said. To me I wouldnt have advised otherwise, he had a trip planned. We ourselves can deal with it. Hundreds of relatives gathered at the shipping companys wharf in Nukualofa expressed anger that the Princess Ashika had been allowed to leave harbour. The ferry had been shrouded in controversy since it kept breaking down after it was bought from Fiji last month. It was scheduled to be used until 2011 when a new ferry is due to go into service. Survivors said the boat sank within a minute after becoming unstable when cargo moved in the hold, about 86 kilometres (53 miles) northeast of Nukualofa en route to Haafeva. However, Sevele said the cause of the sinking remained unknown and he had been assured the vessel had passed safety inspections. There are certain areas in Tonga where there are peculiarities in the currents and waves, so I dont think it was the ships seaworthiness that was the cause of it, he said, adding other vessels had capsized in the same area. Tongan police commander Chris Kelley said there was difficulty reconciling the numbers on board the Princess Ashika, with 15 of the survivors not even on the passenger list. We believe a more accurate manifest was on board and was lost so there could have been more persons on board who have not been identified, he told a press conference. Search co-ordinator John Dickson said a New Zealand Air Force Orion maintained sweeps over the disaster area throughout Friday but efforts to locate any more survivors from the vessel have been unsuccessful.