Tonga disaster victims get relief funds
![A vehicle lies on the seabed near where the Princess Ashika sank. [Tonga Ministry of Information]](http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200908/r421960_2006086.jpg "A vehicle lies on the seabed near where the Princess Ashika sank. [Tonga Ministry of Information]")
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A vehicle lies on the seabed near where the Princess Ashika sank. [Tonga Ministry of Information]
Campbell Cooney, Pacific correspondent
Last Updated:
The survivors, and the families of those who died in last year's Tongan ferry disaster, have started receiving compensation.
The money has come from donations from at home and overseas.
The relief fund was established last year after the MV Princess Ashika sank taking 74 lives.
Those donations total over $US500,000.
The families of survivors have received nearly $US7,000, while each survivor will get just over $1,000.
The Matangi Tonga online news service is reporting that so far 54 payments have been made to next of kin, while around 44 survivors have collected their compensation.
At the end of March the Royal Commission into the Ferry Disaster will table its report.
Three people have been arrested and charged in relation to the sinking
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