Search and rescue teams have scoured the Ha’apai seas for a missing sea cucumber diver since Tuesday night.
The missing fisherman was one of a group of 14 divers from Pātangata who travelled by three boats from Tongatapu for a sea cucumber fishing in Lulunga, Ha’apai.
Deputy Commissioner ‘Atunaisa Taumoepeau told TBC’s Television news the missing diver left the group in one of the boats heading to another island and he has not been heard from since.
That boat’s engine broke down after they left Tongatapu but it was fixed before they arrived in Ha’apai, he said.
Taumoepeau described the situation as “dangerous” because of the current severe weather warning for Tonga.
The news comes after about a fortnight ago when Police said they were concerned after a 60-year-old man died while diving for sea cucumbers at Koloa, Vava’u.
The deceased was the third within a week after two sea cucumber divers died in Tongatapu on July 6.
How these divers died was still unknown.
But critics have argued on social media that authorities haven’t done enough after it was clear death while diving for sea cucumbers has been reported from time to time since sea cucumber fishing began in 1980s.
In 2012 a diver died after using a method known as hookah diving while diving for sea cucumbers in Ha’apai.
That deceased was the third fisherman to die in a week.
Hookah diving uses an engine on a boat pumping compressed air to a diver below the surface.
Police said at the time the method was dangerous and illegal.
