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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Dave Burke

Tonga volcano: British woman missing after tsunami 'swept her away with her dogs'

A desperate search has been launched for a British woman who is missing following Saturday's tsunami in Tonga.

Angela Glover, 50, was swept away as she and husband James were hit by 4ft waves on the west coast of Tongatapu, the country's main island.

Angela, who managed a tattoo parlour and ran a dog sanctuary in Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, has not been seen since the tsunami struck.

Her husband James was able to cling on to a tree.

Angela's tearful brother Nick Eleini told The Guardian he fears for his sister, saying: "I don’t think this is going to have a happy ending."

The underwater Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted at 5.10pm local time on Saturday (sakakimoana/Twitter)

He said his sister had been washed away with four or five dogs who she was walking at the time. The couple were housesitting a home on the west coast of the island.

James contacted police and the British Embassy after his wife did not return home, Mr Eleini said.

One of her dogs has subsequently been found, but there is no sign of Angela.

He said: “One of the dogs has been found, but Angela hasn’t been found. It’s excruciating."

A family friend told the BBC : "We are hoping and praying that amongst the devastation she is found."

the BBC that his sister has still not been located, and said he is flying to the UK from Australia, where he lives, in order to be with his mother.

The underwater Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano first erupted at 5.10pm local time on Saturday, causing huge waves to crash into home.

Huge waves crashed into homes following the volcano eruption (sakakimoana/Twitter)

Terrifying satellite footage showed the moment of the eruption which triggered a tsunami warning for a number of South Pacific island nations.

Scared residents said at the time it was dark in parts of Tonga following the eruption, with locals rushing to safety in fear of being swept away by incoming waves.

One woman spoke of how she was preparing dinner for her family when the eruption shook her home, while another revealed he carried his grandmother to the roof of their home in a bid to reach safety.

(NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INFORMATIO)

The first eruption of the volcano, located about 40 miles north of Nuku'alofa, triggered a 7.4 magnitude earthquake and caused a 1.2 metre tsunami, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said.

The eruption was so intense it was heard as "loud thunder sounds" in Fiji more than 500 miles away, officials said.

The volcano is about 40 miles north of the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa. In late 2014 and early 2015, a series of eruptions in the area created a small new island and disrupted international air travel to the Pacific archipelago for several days.

Tonga is home to about 105,000 people.

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