Orion locates man floating in liferaft [1]
Tuesday, April 25, 2017 - 20:20
A man who was missing at sea since Saturday was located by the RNZAF Orion aircraft at around 3:00pm today, Tupouniua Veamatahau from Holonga was spotted waving from a life raft, floating 13km South East of 'Eua island.
He was reported missing at around 10:00pm on Saturday night, after leaving Manuka on eastern Tongatapu for ‘Eua on Saturday morning, April 22.
The Orion started searching the waters between Tongatapu and ‘Eua on Monday afternoon, April 24 after Tonga Police requested their assistance, but there was no sighting of the missing man or his boat. The aircraft stayed in Tonga overnight and the search continued this morning.
"At 3:00pm we received a report that the man was located floating and waving from an a life raft. HMAF Voea has been deployed to the area to rescue him, arriving there at around 6:00pm," said a police spokesperson.
He left on a 19ft long boat by himself. The last contact he made was to someone in ‘Eua, reporting that the boat's engine had broken down.