Tonga Police Chief Superintendant Commander Filipe Fifita, who heads a homicide investigation, said today he could not disclose anything further about an investigation into human remains, recovered from the seabed at the Yellow Pier in Nuku'alofa on Boxing Day.

The homicide investigation was opened on 26 December 2023, following the discovery of human remains at the pier, also known as Uafu ‘Amelika, by fishermen at 3:00am on Christmas Day.

It is understood that the remains were recovered by the Police and taken to the Vaiola Hospital mortuary.

Tonga Police last week urged the public to come forward with any information on missing persons.

Since then, there have been no further updates. It is unclear whether the remains, or body parts, that were recovered belonged to one or more persons, or what the gender or ethnicity might be. 

Police have given no indication of how long the remains had been in the sea when they were discovered, or whether or not DNA testing was being used to help in the identification.

In a Police statement last week, there were no reasons given as to why the grisly discovery was being treated as a homicide.