A 44-year-old male driver died early on Sunday morning, 16 February while driving his car along Hala Liku, ‘Utulau, Tongatapu.

Police believed the victim suffered a heart attack while he was driving his niece back to her home at the village of Hofoa at aroun 1:00am.

The man's niece reported that as they were driving along Hala Liku in ‘Utulau, her uncle suddenly swerved the vehicle to the side of the road, and the car ran into a nearby bush area. She didn’t know how to drive so she jumped outside and the car fortunately came to stop in the bush. She ran to check on him and found he was still breathing but said that he stopped breathing moments later.

Doctors confirmed that the victim died before arriving at Vaiola Hospital. An inquest was expected to be held today to determine the cause of death.