Tsunami-hit Tonga islands suffered extensive damage, more deaths feared
Gulf Times
A satellite image shows the main port facilites after the main eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, in Nuku'alofa, Tonga.
Tonga's small outer islands suffered extensive damage from a massive volcanic eruption and tsunami, with an entire village destroyed and many buildings missing, a Tongan diplomat said on Tuesday, raising fears of more deaths and injuries.
"People panic, people run and get injuries. Possibly there will be more deaths and we just pray that is not the case," Tonga’s deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis Tu’ihalangingie, told Reuters.
Tu’ihalangingie said images taken by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) reconnaissance flights showed "alarming" scenes of a village destroyed on Mango island and buildings missing on nearby Atata island.
Tonga police told the New Zealand High Commission that the confirmed death toll stood at two but with communications in the South Pacific island nation cut, the true extent of casualties was not clear.
