Diplomat says Tongan survival story fits with events

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The unimaginable story of a retired carpenter who survived in a single day within the ocean after the Tonga tsunami swept him out to sea appeared to suit with occasions on the time, a New Zealand diplomat stated Friday.

“It’s one in all these miracles that occurs,” stated Performing Excessive Commissioner Peter Lund on a satellite tv for pc telephone from Tonga, the place communications stay patchy.

The story of 57-year-old Lisala Folau, who has disabilities that make strolling troublesome, has captivated folks in Tonga and around the globe. Some have affectionately dubbed him “Aquaman.”

In a translated interview with Tonga’s BroadCom Broadcasting, Folau stated he was swept out to sea at about 7 p.m. Saturday from his dwelling on Atata island and floated in a single day earlier than making landfall on an uninhabited island.

From there, he stated that he drifted or swam one other eight hours to a second abandoned island earlier than lastly swimming once more to the principle island of Tongatapu, a complete journey of greater than 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles) unfold over 26 hours.

Lund stated that when he had his first briefing with Tongan authorities officers on Sunday, the day after the tsunami however earlier than Folau was discovered, they advised him an individual was lacking from Atata island.

“And so they weren’t very optimistic about it,” Lund stated.

However officers later revised their figures to point nobody was lacking from the island.

In an interview with Britain’s Sky Information, Folau described how he felt throughout the expertise.

“The scariest half to me throughout the ordeal was when the waves took me from land into the ocean,” he stated.

“What got here into my thoughts once I was helpless at sea had been two issues,“ he added. ”One, that I nonetheless had religion in God. Two, is my household. And I solely bear in mind how my household will assume, at that second, ‘Perhaps he died.’”

Folau stated he had been working at his dwelling performing some portray when his brother advised him a tsunami wave was shifting towards the tiny island, which has a inhabitants of about 60.

A video was shot the subsequent day on Atata by Folau’s son Koli Folau, who went trying to find his father. The video reveals that just about nothing was left standing on the island aside from a church, the place lots of the villagers took shelter.