SYDNEY (AFP) - The Pacific Ocean has given birth to a new volcanic island
near Tonga, according to ocean-going eyewitnesses.
A new volcanic island on the Methis Shoal in Tonga in the
South Pacific Ocean that emerged in July 1995, shown in a photo released
by the Royal New Zealand Navy. The Pacific Ocean has given birth to a new
volcanic island near Tonga, according to ocean-going eyewitnesses.
[AFP]
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Crew on board a yacht called the
"Maiken" believed they were the first to see a volcanic island forming a day out
from Neiafu, Tonga, while sailing towards Fiji in August, the Matangi Tonga news
website reported Wednesday.
"One mile in diameter and with four peaks and a central crater smoking with
steam and once in a while an outburst high in the sky with lava and ashes. I
think we're the first ones out here," a crew member who identified himself as
Haken wrote on the yacht's web log.
After ealier leaving the northern Tongan islands group of Vava'u, crew on
board the "Maiken" glimpsed "pumice rafts" floating on the water before they
"sailed into a vast, many-miles-wide belt of densely packed pumice".
The crew had earlier encountered huge streaks of pumice after passing Tonga's
Late island, according to their web log.
"You might have heard about the sailor's superstition that you should 'never
leave on a Friday'. Well, we did and the sea turned to stone, it is hard to get
a stronger sign than that," skipper Frederik Fransson said.
Neither Tonga's Ministry of Lands nor the Tonga Defense Service would confirm
the creation of a new island.
Separately, fishing boat captain Siaosi Fenukitau reported seeing the
volcanic island, the Matangi Tonga website reported.