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Tonga ferry Princess Ashika underwater - Source: Royal New Zealand Navy -
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The Tongan government has slammed claims made in the official inquiry into the Princess Ashika ferry disaster that the government was not cooperative as "misleading and unhelpful".
"The government is satisfied that it has permitted unprecedented access to its records throughout the commission's investigation and that its record of cooperation with the commission to establish transparency in this affair, in the face of extreme provocation by the Commission in permitting the introduction of politically motivated irrelevancies in its proceedings, is exemplary," a statement from the Prime Minister's office said.
The report said the disaster was "easily preventable", "scandalous" and that such a maritime disaster could ever have been allowed to occur is a result of "systemic and individual failures".
Seventy-four people died when the Princess Ashika ferry sank six months ago.
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