An extensive sea and air search was under way Thursday in the South Pacific after a freight and passenger ship carrying up to 70 people sank off the north coast of Papua New Guinea.

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The Simbang sank Wednesday after it left the South Pacific port of Sialum, shipping officials said. Three bodies have been recovered and 27 people have been rescued, the officials said.Reportedly, the ship left Sialum, about 60 miles north of Lae, fully laden when it was hit by a freak wave that drove it onto a reef at the harbor entrance.

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