A sea incident where two fishermen had no means of communication with them, and the boat had no life jackets and beacon prompted reminder from Tonga Police.
It said Police in ‘Eua around 5pm on Saturday, October 15, 2022 responded to a report of an overdue fishing boat with two fishermen on board.
At around 6am on Saturday, October 15, 2022, two men, aged 32 and 38 of Tufuvai, ‘Eua departed ‘Ohonua coastline on an 8ft fiber boat with a 30-horsepower outboard motor engine to Kalau Island (3.7km from the Southwest of ‘Eua) for fishing, and was due to return at 9 – 10am that same morning.
When they failed to return three hours after their expected arrival time, the boat owner reported the matter to Police.
It was clear from his report that the two men had no means of communication with them, and the boat had no life jackets and beacon.
The Police at ‘Eua promptly launched a search and rescue operation by using a local fishing boat, which transported police with a couple of fishermen, heading to Kalau Island. Fortunately, they located the missing boat at around 7pm near Ha’aluma Beach with both passengers alive and well.
The two fishermen confirmed that they came across an engine failure at around 10am. Because the boat anchor rope broke, they had to use the engine instead as an anchor to slow down drifting.
Tonga Police would like to strongly remind the public and all seafarers, especially fishermen, boat operators, and swimmers, to make sure that basic safety precautions and measures are considered and are in place before embarking on your sea trip.
This should include confirming weather forecasts and the boat to be appropriately equipped with means of communication, life jackets, a beacon, and enough food supplies. We urge that all seafarers take their responsibility for individual safety seriously. Some of these situations are avoidable, so we need seafarers to do their part.
