SYDNEY, August 9 (RIA Novosti) - The number of people missing and feared drowned in the Tonga ferry disaster has risen to 93, local police said on Sunday.

There were a total of 149 people on board the Princess Ashika ferry when it sank on Wednesday some 90 km (55 miles) northeast of the Pacific island's capital, Nuku'alofa. The cause for the ship's sinking is not yet known.

Police chief Sokopeti To'ia said that fifty-four people had so far been rescued and two bodies found. The bodies were identified as a Briton living in New Zealand and a Polynesian woman.

Tonga is an archipelago of about 170 islands in the South Pacific Ocean about two thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand, and has a population of 120,000 people.