The flight for Tonga scheduled for today by Air New Zealand has been grounded due to fresh volcanic eruption reported near the kingdom yesterday.
This means, the bodies of Lord Ma’afu and Fr Seluni ‘Akau’ola which were booked to be flown to Tonga this morning continued to remain with their families and kāinga in New Zealand.
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai started letting off steam on Sunday night, around 8:30pm (Tonga’s timezone is the same as New Zealand’s), Newshub reported.
“A plume rose about 15km into the air, with varied reports on whether it contained ash or was just steam”, it said.
“The explosion could be heard up to 170km away, Volcano Discovery reported, citing social media reports”.
The body of Tonga’s Deputy Prime Minister Lord Ma’afu was scheduled to depart Auckland International Airport this morning at 9:40am on Air New Zealand Flight 1172.
It was expected that Her Majesty’s Queen Nanasipau’u Tuku’aho and dignitaries would welcome Lord Ma’afu at the Fua’amotu International Airport VIP lounge at 12pm, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Meanwhile, the body of the Roman Catholic priest, Fr Seluini ‘Akau’ola remains in Auckland for a couple more days.
Fr ‘Akau’ola was the first chairman of Tonga’s Pro Democracy Movement in 1992.
He reportedly died after he suffered from what appeared to be an incurable disease.
