Ads by Google Ads by Google

Pava'ia'i man drowns in Avau during family outing

A family outing ended tragically when a Pava’ia’i man drowned last Saturday in Avau. A family member told Samoa News yesterday morning that they came for a swim and the man went inwards and was struck by a wave. Then he was gone.

 

Police officers with the Marine Patrol Division under the leadership of Captain Tulele Laolagi led the search which began around 5 p.m. and was called off at 8 p.m., Saturday night, because it got dark.

 

The search continued yesterday morning at 8 a.m. with about 10 police officers using three jet skis and the police speed boat, in addition to six divers. Police were assisted by two free divers and another boat belonging to Lealaifuaneva Reid.

 

The man who drowned is believed to be a GHC Reid employee.

 

Samoa News arrived at the scene and witnessed family members camping out at the bus stop across the street awaiting the outcome of the search.

 

At 9:32 a.m. one of the free divers flagged the police boat informing them that the body had been recovered. The man was pronounced dead and his body was taken to the morgue. A family service followed at the LBJ chapel.

 

Family members of the deceased are thankful to free divers Talosaga Ioapo and Mamani Seti, who are fishermen, for discovering the body of their loved one.

 

Ioapo told Samoa News he was contacted for assistance by the police yesterday, which in not uncommon, as Ioapo is usually contacted for assistance when there is a police search for a body at sea. It was Seti who spotted the body underwater and Ioapo who dove to recover it.

 

A family member said the deceased was a single man in his 50s.