2009 Kiribati ferry accident
Introduction The '''2009 Kiribati ferry accident''' was the sinking, on 13 July 2009, of an inter-island ferry in the south Pacific nation of Kiribati. The accident is believed to have killed 33 of the ship's 55 passengers and crew.The ferry was a  double-hulled wood catamaran en route between Tarawa and the outlying island of Maiana. It capsized when the captain attempted to turn around to rescue a crew member who had been swept overboard in high seas. The Royal New Zealand Air Force sent a C130 aircraft to aid in air-sea rescue and recovery operations; it aided in recovering twenty survivors, and seven bodies, before calling off the search. A further eighteen bodies were not recovered.
See also *MV ''Princess Ashika'', a ferry which capsized in Tonga a month later*List of maritime disasters*, an I-Kiribati ferry travelling between Nonouti and Betio which sank in January 2018.
References * NZ quits search for 18 missing from Kiribati ferry ( Archived 2009-08-11)