Information has now emerged that some of the passengers and the captain who were in a fiberglass boat that went missing over the weekend, were allegedly drinking alcohol.
Fijivillage has received confirmation that one of the survivors has alleged to the Police that some of the people were drinking and a fight broke out on the vessel late Saturday afternoon.
It has been alleged that the boat was already taking in water due to rough seas and the situation worsened when the fight broke out resulting in at least one person falling over.
Moments later the boat also capsized and the passengers and the boat captain were thrown into the rough seas.
The group on the boat included the captain and a crew member, a school teacher and 4 PWD workers.
They left Levuka on Saturday morning.
The seven were supposed to reach Batiki village at around 1pm however they did not reach their destination.
Police and the Fiji Navy then activated the search.
Two people swam to shore - one to Natokalau while the other to Yanuca lailai while the captain was picked up by MV Vatulawa.
Four people are still missing and the search continues for them.
Stay with us we will have more on this story later today.
Story by: Vijay Narayan and Rusiate Baleilevuka
