Wellington  - As many as 117 people are now believed to have been on board the Princess Ishika ferry when it sank off Tonga, according to authorities Friday.

New Zealand's rescue coordination centre, which is overseeing search efforts, said in a statement that 62 people remained unaccounted for since the sinking around midnight Wednesday (noon Wednesday GMT).

The number is almost double the centre's previous estimate of 33 missing people.

The centre's head John Dickson said he had stood down a planned overnight search because of low visibility. He said that conditions in the area had further deteriorated Friday. Three vessels resumed the search at dawn Friday with guidance from trained spotters on P3 Orion aircraft, he said.

The ferry sank about 86 kilometers north-east of Nuku'alofa.

"There is still a significant amount of debris in the water, and we will be targeting those areas," Dickson said. "Clearly survival rates after this length of time are of concern, but we remain hopeful of finding more survivors."

Tongan police commander Chris Kelly, heading rescue efforts in the island nation, told Radio New Zealand that there appeared to be three different passenger manifests on board, making it difficult to identify who was on the ferry.

Among the missing are 23 men including four crew members, 21 women and seven children. The other 11 missing people are as yet unidentified.

"Tonga's a seafaring nation, so this disaster, and it's a terrible disaster, really, strikes right at the heart and spirit of this country," Kelly said.

Tongan Prime Minister Feleti Sevele was attending a meeting of the 14-nation Pacific Islands regional forum Thursday in Cairns, Australia.

"The hopes for the rest are not promising, unfortunately," he said. "It's a sad day for all the families affected."

Sevele has asked New Zealand and Australia to send navy divers to help recover bodies from the ferry.

"We do believe the missing ones are down with the ship, so it is important that we get some people to see if we can recover them," he said. "The hopes for the rest are not promising, unfortunately. It is now over 24 hours, and in all probability the chances are not that great."

A 48-year-old British man was one of two bodies recovered from the sinking.

The Briton, who carried a New Zealand driver's licence, was identified as Dan MacMillan, according to reports in New Zealand and Tongan media. He had lived for six years in New Zealand and had relatives in Scotland.

New Zealand's rescue coordination center told the German Press Agency dpa that there were no further details on the identity of the second man.

New Zealand media reported the Briton to be one of six foreigners on the ship, including Japanese, German and French citizens.

Mateni Tapueluelu, editor of the Tongan newspaper Kele'a, told dpa that the boat sank rapidly, and dozens of foreigners, women and children had drowned.

Tapueluelu said that maritime sources in the kingdom told him that a wave had hit the vessel and thrown the seven vehicles held in cargo to one side of the boat, causing it to capsize.

Water quickly poured through the low windows of the ferry, causing it to rapidly sink, according to his sources. Most of the passengers were asleep at the time of the midnight capsizing, according to one survivor.

Tapueluelu told the Matangi Tonga news website that "no women or children made it."

Most passengers had been sleeping on the lower decks when the ferry began rocking and started to capsize, Siaosi Lavaka said.

"We woke up to the sound of shouting, and we jumped off," he said. (dpa)