The search and rescue operation for Siale Havea (45) who went missing at sea in Houma last week has been called off.

Police stated today, 12 April 2023 that nothing further had been found, and the search was cancelled.

Havea was reported to have gone out diving or underwater fishing at Fahefa, Tongatapu, on Friday night, 31 March. 

An aerial search of the coastline by a police drone discovered no signs of the missing man.

Police stated that Havea went out with three other men for underwater fishing at around 8:00pm. The sea was reported to have been rough that night and after several attempts from different locations, Siale went into the water alone at Fahefa. The other three returned home.

Police said that at around midnight, three of his people returned to check on Siale from the Blowholes site at Houma. “They exchanged signals with Siale using a torch and this time, he was seen to be near Vaotu’u. They then went back to Siale’s house and waited for their next check-up.”

“Then around 2:00am on Saturday, 1 April, they returned to the Blowholes to check again. This time, Siale’s signal appeared to be near ‘Anafotu Harbour at Ha’akame. They then went to Ha’akame bearing towards ‘Anafotu.”

“Due to potholes and muddy roads, they parked their vehicle and remained beside the road hoping that Siale [would] eventually show up there. When Siale failed to show up, they alerted the Police at Nukunuku, since it was already daylight.”

Police stated that due to the rough seas, the deployment of the Police Search and Rescue boat was not possible. A Police drone was deployed instead to conduct a thorough aerial search of the relevant area and coastline, with no results.