Sand mining drowned Monuafe island

Monūafe a little islands north of Tongatapu, between Makahaʻa and ʻOnevai. A photograph in 2002, showed the island was a few hundred meters in size. A 2009 photograph showed how waves were rinsing the sand and soil away, leaving dying roots exposed. By 2010 the island had become much smaller. In December 2011, smaller still. By March 2012, almost nothing was left over, and somewhere during the last month, the island has disappeared forever. Who or what did it? Hurricanes? Sea level rise? Sand mining? I think that is the one. – Firitia Velt.