Pacific volcano: British woman reported missing after Tonga tsunamion January 17, 2022 at 5:09 am

Friends and family of a British woman living in Tonga have said she is missing after she was caught in Saturday’s tsunami.

In social media posts, they said Angela and James Glover were hit by the 1.2m (4ft) waves, but only her husband was able to cling on to a tree.

Searches continue for Angela, 50, who was swept away along with her dogs.

Brighton-born Angela co-managed a tattoo parlour and ran a dog rescue centre in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa.

One social media poster, who said the couple were his aunt and uncle, said that Angela and James had gone home to get their dogs when the wave hit.

Another poster said she had spent Sunday morning with Angela’s mother in Hove in East Sussex, who had received a phone call in the early hours from James to say her daughter was missing.

She said: “We are hoping and praying that amongst the devastation she is found.”

Mrs Glover’s brother, Nick, confirmed to the BBC that she still had not been been located. He said he is flying from his home in Sydney, Australia to the UK to be with their mother.

The tsunami was triggered by the eruption of a huge underwater volcano on Saturday, which could be heard more than a thousand miles away in New Zealand.

Aid organisations say up to 80,000 people on the islands could be affected by the disaster, but so far no deaths have been reported.

Information remains scarce, however. New Zealand and Australia and sending surveillance flights to assess the extent of the damage.

A source at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it was assisting British nationals and their families following the tsunami in Tonga.

Angela’s social media profiles suggest she grew up in Brighton and worked in the advertising industry in London for several years, before beginning a new life in the Pacific island nation around 2015.

Past media reports identify her as the vice-president of Tonga Animal Welfare Society, which was founded in 2020 to offer basic animal care in a nation that has no qualified vets.