A team of Australian personnel have gone ashore from HMAS Adelaide after the ship was hit by a COVID-19 outbreak and power outage.
As the ash clouds clear after the devastating volcanic eruption,engineers are scrambling to repair the critical single undersea cable linking Tonga with the world.
Australia’s largest warship will bring back COVID samples from Tonga in an attempt to find the origins of the Pacific nation’s first virus outbreak.
HMAS Adelaide has been providing recovery equipment and essential supplies to Tonga after an undersea earthquake and tsunami struck the archipelago.
Tonga’s strict COVID-19 quarantine measures are adding complexity to a difficult clean-up mission,with international surge capacity unable to be deployed.
There has been a COVID-19 outbreak on the navy supply ship on route to Tonga,the coronavirus-free archipelago recovering from a volcano eruption and tsunami.
On Monday,the Australian Defence Force said Japan deployed a C-130H Hercules and a Kawasaki C-2 from the RAAF Amberley Base,south of Brisbane.
Lisala Folau,who is disabled,was swept out to sea from the small,isolated island of Atata,but made it to the main island of Tongatapu,about eight kilometres away.
The images,showing children among the debris,ash covering cars and homes ripped to the ground,come as HMAS Adelaide docks at Brisbane before heading to the battered island with supplies.
The Tongan government reported extensive damage to housing on outlying islands following the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano.
Despite sitting almost on top of the volcano that erupted so violently on Saturday,Tonga appears to have avoided the widespread devastation that many initially feared.