A 57-year-old Tongan man says he swam about 27 hours to get to shore after getting swept out to sea during Saturday's devastating tsunami.
A P-3K2 Orion aircraft flies over an area of Tonga that shows ash from Saturday's volcanic eruption on homes and surrounding vegetation. Photo: New Zealand Defence Force. Licenced under Creative Commons BY 4.0.
The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano on Saturday killed at least three people, sent tsunami waves rolling across the archipelago, damaging villages, resorts and many buildings and knocked out communications for the nation of about 105,000 people.
Lisala Folau, who lived on the small, isolated island of Atatā which has a population of about 60 people, was swept out to sea when the waves hit land at about 7pm on Saturday, he said in a radio interview to Tongan media agency Broadcom Broadcasting.
Folau said he was painting his home when he was alerted about the tsunami by his brother, and soon the waves had gone through his lounge.
He climbed on a tree to escape but when he got down another big wave swept him away, he said. The 57-year-old said he was disabled and could not walk properly.
"I just floated, bashed around by the big waves that kept coming," he told the radio station.
Folau said he kept floating, and slowly managed to swim 7.5km to the main island of Tongatapu, reaching the shore 27 hours later at about 10pm on Sunday.
Reuters was unable to contact Folau or verify the events.
The story of Folau's heroics went viral among Tongan groups on Facebook and other social media.
"Real life Aquaman," said one post on Facebook, referring to the comic book and film chracter.
"He's a legend," said another post.
Atata, which is about 8km northwest of Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa, or a 30-minute boat ride, has been almost entirely destroyed in the tsunami that hit the islands.
Tongan naval boats are still surveing the smaller islands and evacuating people to the main islands.
-Reuters