Jimu news reporter Song Qingying
After the eruption of the Tonga volcano, a 57-year-old Tongan man was swept away by a tsunami and drifted at sea for 28 hours before finally swimming to the main island to be rescued.
Lisala Folau, Source: Stuff
According to New Zealand media Stuff reported on January 20, the surviving Tongan man, lisala Folau, lives on Atata Island, an outlying island in Tonga, and is a carpenter with a leg disability. Atata Island is inhabited by only 61 people, about 8 km northwest of Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa.
At 10:00 a.m. local time on the 15th, after the Faro family received a tsunami alert caused by a volcanic eruption, the tsunami immediately swept across the small atata island.
Farrow and his family were painting the house when a 6-meter-high wave swept into their house in an instant.
Farrow climbed up the tree with his niece. When it was almost dark, they thought the waves had subsided and climbed down from the trees, and who knew that at this moment, even greater waves were coming.
Farrow and his niece were swept into the sea. Farrow said he and his niece were floating on the sea, shouting at each other, but her niece's voice was soon inaudible.
After a while, Farrow heard his son in the distance calling out to him, but he did not dare to answer, for fear that his son would risk his life to save him, "If I answered, my son would definitely jump into the sea to save me." ”
Buildings and trees were razed to the ground by the tsunami, Source: The Guardian
Farrow recalled: "I was floating all the time, and the huge waves that kept coming crashed on me. I wanted to be able to grab a tree or anything so that even if I died, my family could see my body. ”
Halfway through, Farrow saw a police patrol boat heading towards Atata Island, and he grabbed a rag from the water and waved it desperately, but the patrol boat did not see him.
Eventually, Faro swam to the main island of Tongatapu and managed to get in touch with his family after disembarking.
According to the report, from 10 a.m. on the 15th to 6 p.m. on the 16th, Faro drifted for 28 hours, and the total distance he traveled was about 13 kilometers, passing through two uninhabited islands.
According to the Guardian, due to a leg disability, Faroe usually has difficulty walking, and drifting in the sea is even more difficult. After Farrow's son was rescued, he said on Facebook: "I will never forget in my life, after the tsunami, my father swam in the sea and drank the sea water continuously, my heart was broken, and the tears could not stop flowing." ”
Farrow recalled that after being swept up in the waves, he relied on the thought of his family to support himself to survive.
After Tongan journalist Marian Kupu first reported on Farrow's story, Erika Radewagen, an Olympic-level swimming officer in the Pacific, said: "It is absolutely surprising that even a very experienced swimmer has a difficult time completing such a challenge, he is fleeing from a volcano that is erupting, and he is under tremendous pressure physically and mentally." ”
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