Claim: MV Butiraoi was a 17.5-metre (57 ft) wooden catamaran bound for Betio which sank, killing 95 and was reported missing on January 19th.
Evidence: The MV Butiraoi was a 17.5-metre (57 ft) wooden catamaran that operated as a ferry in Kiribati. Bound for Betio, the ferry was planned to make the 240-kilometre (150 mi) voyage in two days. On 18 January 2018, it left the island of Nonouti carrying 88 passengers. According to survivors the overloaded ferry broke in half and sank. The ferry was reported missing on the 19th. Two days later, a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion patrol plane spotted a wooden dinghy containing seven passengers of the Butiraoi who were then rescued by a nearby fishing vessel. Tokiteba told Morrah that the captain defied those orders, boarding 88 people, including 5 crew members, despite the fact that during normal operations, the ship's maximum capacity was 69 passengers.