A girl whose body was recovered at the swimming pool at Touliki on Saturday, was missing for over two hours before police search and rescue were called.

Tonga Police confirmed today that the victim was 'Elisapeti Heitonga (now confirmed to be 12 years old) from Tofoa who had gone to the seawater pool with her sports team from Lavengamalie College, including teachers.

Acting Police Commissioner ‘Atunaisa Taumoepeau said today that the school group were training and went into the water to exercise. It was reported that the team left the pool at around 10:00am.

“When the team got back to school, they noticed that the victim was missing and after they called her home to look for her, they suspected she was at the pool and returned to look for her.”

The Police were notified at around 12:30pm by the victim's mother. When officers arrived at the pool, the girl had not been found, and local divers from Popua came and assisted in the search.

The victim’s body was found submerged in the pool after 2:00pm.

A Coroner's report will be required to confirm the cause of death, which is suspected to be drowning.

Accidental deaths

There have been previous drownings in the area.

In 2013 a six year old boy drowned while at the pool with other family members.

Popular recreation area

The ageing seawater pool, which is owned by the Ports Authority, has hundreds of visitors every week. It is a popular recreation area for families, sports people, walkers and picnickers, but remains underdeveloped as a public recreation area and has continuing maintenance problems. The water visibility is poor because the single inlet does not flush the pool effectively.

The narrow roadside parking is dangerous for offloading children onto a busy main road.

There are no functional toilet facilities. A new toilet block that was built in 2019 to resolve the growing waste problem, has not been opened.