Fourteen passengers who arrived in Tonga on an Air Vanuatu on 26 August were workers of the a local Tongan local company, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) who had been stranded in Vanuatu since 7 June 2021.

No Tongans were on the flight. The 14 Chinese are currently under quarantine at the Taliai Camp, Tongatapu.

According to a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in Nuku’alofa, it was urgent for the CCECC employees to return to work and that was why the CCECC had to charter the aircraft to bring them back.

The CCECC  has been in operation in Tonga since around 2010.

The Air Vanuatu flight then left Tonga without any passengers on board, but it was scheduled to stop over in Samoa on its return flight to Vanuatu.

According to a statement from the Tongan Prime Minister’s Office this afternoon, the reason why there were no Tongans passengers on the flight was because Tongan nationals and students in Vanuatu were too deeply involved with their work and studies, to take advantage of the opportunity to fly back home. It stated the Tonga Government had no involvement in the flight.