Three Tongan men found at sea in Lau Group [1]
Friday, August 8, 2014 - 18:05. Updated on Friday, August 8, 2014 - 18:49.
Fiji authorities today believed they had found three missing Tongan fishermen at Oneata in the Lau Group.
Tonga Police said they received information from Fiji Police around 2:00pm (local Tongan time) today that divers had found three men, believed to be Tongans, swimming in the sea near Oneata. Police understood that the men were on a reef in the area and had been taken to Oneata and were all well.
“We have not been able to talk to the three men at this stage to confirm their identities but authorities in Fiji believed they are our missing fishermen,” said the police this afternoon.
The missing men who were identified earlier this week as ‘Elone Taulafo, his son Sione Filipe Taulafo and son-in-law Sofele Folau, were last seen going on a fishing trip in a 20ft boat in the early morning of July 30 in Nomuka, in Tonga's Ha'apai Group.
A local search had been called off after no sighting of the men over several days.
Lau
The Lau Group, consisting of almost a hundred islands and reefs sprinkled in a north/south line, is located about half the distance between Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu and Tonga. From north to south the Lau Islands stretch over 250 nautical miles and the distance between the islands is usually less than 20 miles. As fisheries have moved progressively further offshore over the last three decades, some Tongans are now fishing over 100 nautical miles offshore. The geography and the prevailing winds from the east causes the Lau Group to form a net and it is known that the majority of vessels drifting away from Tongatapu, Ha'apai, and Vava'u eventually end up in Lau.