Passengers were returning to home village as part of Covid-19 contingency measures

This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

Twenty-eight people are missing and feared dead after being washed from a ferry in Solomon Islands in the early hours of Friday morning as it encountered rough seas caused by Cyclone Harold.

The passengers were swept off MV Taimareho, a passenger vessel that was travelling from the capital of Honiara to West Are Are port in Malaita province.

They were travelling back in a charter organised by their local MP as part of Covid-19 contingency plans, which are seeing people evacuated back to their home villages.

Tragedy at sea: eight dead and four rescued after 32 days adrift in South Pacific Read more

Maritime authorities were battling bad weather to find passengers. They confirmed to the Guardian that 28 people were missing.

A patrol boat was sent out to try and recover the passengers but rescue efforts were being hampered by limited resources due to the coronavirus crisis. The country’s rescue helicopter could not fly because the second pilot is in quarantine.

So far there have been no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Solomon Islands, but the country, which has very limited healthcare facilities, is bracing for its arrival.

All over Solomon Islands people are calculating the damage caused by Cyclone Harold, which formed in the Coral Sea, south-west of Honiara, and hit the country on Friday.

The National Disaster Council has warned people to move to higher grounds, with reports that families had to be rescued from their homes as rivers and streams rose.

Harold is due to hit Vanuatu over the weekend.