A team of Tongan geologists have finally had a close-up look at the erupting volcano which has caused chaos for thousands of air passengers.
It started erupting last month, but a crew has only just managed to get a boat to the area.
What they saw was spectacular, and they now have a theory for why it blew.
The geologists could only get within around 200 metres of the volcano, as it exploded ash hundreds of metres into the air every five minutes.
"It was like a whole column of ash, going about 400 metres up," says geologist Taaniela Kula. "It was like a wall of ash."
The geologists discovered it was the first time this particular vent had erupted – and it was bigger than they anticipated.
It blew just as they arrived – and Mr Kula has an interesting theory about why it started erupting in the first place.
"You could correlate that to the new government and Mother Nature is probably shooting fireworks, celebrating perhaps and [congratulating] the new government," he joked.
Along with the eruptions comes acid rain.
"You can feel it eating your skin, but it's not really severe. I think it will go away in a while," he says.
Another problem brought by the volcano is the cancellation of dozens of flights from New Zealand, Fiji and Australia.
But Flight NZ6862 from Auckland did land safely in Tonga late this morning. Among the relieved passengers was Christchurch teacher Sophie Lowe, who has been trying to move to Tonga since Tuesday morning.
"[I] was stuck in Auckland for a night, managed to find a friend to stay with, came back, flew again, got within an hour of Tonga and turned back. Lucky third try today. [It was a] bit of an ordeal but [I'm] pretty excited," says Ms Lowe.
Half her gear was left behind and she missed part of her retreat.
Paula Moimoi Latu and his family missed celebrations in Tonga after being held up in transit for days.
"[It's] beautiful to be home. [I've been] trying to get home since Monday from New Zealand. Happy to come home, meet the family and good to be back in the Kingdom," says Mr Moimoi Latu.
The volcanic activity has become something of a tourist attraction in Tonga. Tomorrow a team of geologists will return to the island for another look – this time two Kiwi geologists will also be on board.
3 News
source: newshub archive
