LONDON: The body of an English woman was swept away by a devastating tsunami who was beaten by Tonga, her brother said in a statement received Tuesday.
A large underwater volcanic explosion near the Pacific Island on Friday has left neighboring countries scrambling to assess fully damage, with small nations cut off from the world.
The first confirmed death was Angela Glover, 50 years old who was running a lost animal, which was reported missing by her husband after the tsunami hit.
“Previously today my family sadly told me that my sister’s body was found,” said her brother Nick Eleini.
The woman’s husband, James Glover, who runs a tattoo shop in Tonga, has confirmed death for the family, Eleini said.
Brother told AFP that he understood Glover managed to deliver the news using a satellite telephone in the English High Commission in Tonga.
Communication from the country has been paralyzed after the internet cable was cut off during the volcano eruption.
The couple was washed away when the tsunami hit, Eleni told the British newspaper The Guardian.
He said he believed the couple was on the west coast of the main island of Tonga, Tongatapu, when the tsunami hit.
“James was able to stick to the tree for a long time, but Angela could not do it and washing with dogs,” he said.
His sister has established a Tonga animal welfare institution to help wild dogs lost, an emotional eclan said from a family home in England.
“The funny thing is, a worse dog, the more he likes it,” he said.
Eleini, who lives in Sydney, said he understood his sister tried to save the couple’s dogs when he was swept away.
His last Instagram post was a photo of the sun set after the Hunga Tonga-Husa Ha’apai volcano erupted in the early hours of January 14.
“We have been under the warning of the tsunami today,” he wrote, noted that the situation remained calm with some swell and electric storm.
But, he added, “Everything looks like watching through Instagram filter.”