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Pita Taufatofua: Olympic flag bearer’s father safe home after ‘big adventure’

January 22, 2022
Henry Club

Earlier this week Taufatofua, who became widely recognized after being his country’s flag bearer at the Summer and Winter Olympics, told CNN She had “no idea” of her 74-year-old father’s whereabouts after a massive underwater eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Hapai volcano.

But on Friday, his father walked through the door of Taufatofua’s family home on the main island of Haapai – “burned and exhausted in the sun”, but safe after a “huge adventure”, the Olympic athlete said in an Instagram post on Friday. Said in the post. ,

Taufatofua said that his father boarded a Navy boat shortly after the tsunami, supporting rescue and first response on the main island of Haapai before leaving the boat to “survey and assist” the outlying islands.

After about a week of work in the first response, the 74-year-old found a small boat to return her to Haapai and her family home – much to her family’s “shock”.

“He wanted to go straight back to working with the community,” posted Taufatofua instagram With a photo of his father on the couch on Friday.

“The family won’t let him go and here he is, safe and sound. He’ll need his energy to help Hapai in his recovery efforts over the next days, weeks and months.”

Elon Musk assesses aid options

Taufatofua said his father had spoken of “loss and devastation” in some of the country’s outlying islands, echoing an update provided by the Tongan government on Tuesday.

in his first officer Update Since Saturday’s explosion, Tonga’s government has confirmed three people dead and several others injured.

Prime Minister Siaosi Sovleni said the “volcanic mushroom plume” expanded to cover the country’s roughly 170 islands – 36 of which are inhabited – affecting the entire population of more than 100,000 people.

Tonga is reportedly set to be without full internet connectivity for a month as a result of the eruption, led by Taufatofua – which has established a GoFundMe Fundraising Page To ask for help from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, to help those most affected by the tsunami.
Team Tonga's flag bearers Malia Pasaka and Pita Taufatofua lead their team during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
“Hey @ElonMusk, we Tongans got hit by a volcano and a tsunami… no communication after that,” Taufatofua tweeted on Wednesday.

“Is there any chance we can borrow your wifi? #starlink”

A division of SpaceX, Starlink uses satellites in low orbit to “provide high-speed, low-latency broadband Internet” around the world, according to their website.

Responding to a Reuters report regarding Tonga’s internet outage, Moscow on Friday tweeted: “Can the people of Tonga tell us whether it’s important for SpaceX to ship to Starlink terminals?”
Musk at Time's Person of the Year on December 13, 2021.
Earlier on Friday, New Zealand MP Dr. Shane Retick tweeted An image of a letter addressed to Musk – dated January 17 – asking whether he can “provide immediate Starlink Internet communications to public officials and the good people of Tonga in this moment of need.”
After being informed of Dr. Ratey’s tweet by another user, Musk replied That “it’s a difficult task for us right now.”

“We don’t have enough satellites with laser links and already have Geo-Sats that serve the Tonga region. That’s why I’m asking for explicit confirmation.”

CNN has reached out to SpaceX for comment.

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