Parkes Spacemen prop forward Heamani Lavaka’s mother is believed to have been on board the Princess Ashika when it sunk in rough seas late on Wednesday night.

The Spacemen are due to play Dubbo CYMS at Pioneer Oval in Parkes tomorrow afternoon in the Tooheys New Group 11 Rugby League top of the table clash.

Lavaka is a popular member of the Parkes first grade team and much-loved member of the Parkes community, according to his neighbour and Group 11 president Jock Colley.

“He lives across the road from me and has done for at least 10 years,” Colley said yesterday.

“This tragedy is very sad. Heamani is such a prominent member of the community and has been great for Parkes in various ways.

“I have not spoken to him directly but I spoke to his wife and she confirmed that his mother was on board the ferry at the time of the accident.

“She said she has urged him to fly to Tonga as soon as possible but he indicated he may play on Sunday before going back. He has a brother in Australia who he wants to catch up with so they can go back together.”

Lavaka, 40, enjoyed a decorated career as a rugby union player and played 16 international matches for Tonga between 1996 and 2003 and has also had an extensive career with Eastern Suburbs in the Tooheys New Shute Shield.

Up to 117 people are believed to have been on board the Princess Ashika when it sunk and on Friday there were still 62 people unaccounted for and two confirmed dead, according to Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand mission coordinator John Dixon.

Officials said 55 survivors had been plucked from the ocean after the Princess Ashika overturned around midnight on Wednesday 85km northeast of the capital, Nuku’alofa.

It is understood that one of the survivors was Lavaka’s brother.

Siaosi Lavaka, whose mother is among the missing, told the Matangi Tonga news website that the fellow survivors he saw packed aboard life boats were all men.

“No women or children made it,” Mr Lavaka said after being returned to shore.

Mr Lavaka, said he woke to find the ferry rocking violently and waves breaking over the lower deck.

The rocking apparently moved cargo to one side of the ferry, unbalancing it and turning it over.

“We woke up to the sound of shouting and we jumped off,” he told the Matangi Tonga website.

All the women and children were inside, sleeping and taking refuge from the rough seas, while the men were outside smoking and lying on the deck.

Lavinia Lavaka, a checkout sales assistant at E M Jones Ltd in Nuku’alofa, learned that her brother Siaosi Lavaka was saved but her mother Kalolaine Lavaka remains missing.

The Princess Ashika, built in Japan in 1970, had been plying Tongan waters for only a few weeks and was just a stop-gap measure ahead of a new ferry coming into service.

The Princess Ashika was shifted from Fiji to replace the old ‘Olovaha because of fears that that passenger ferry was no longer safe.

It is understood the boat was at a depth of about 35 metres.