The family of the woman who died in a house fire in Vava’u believed it was her who was screaming for help in a livestreamed video which was widely shared on Facebook this week.
Police said Tu’imala Uinisē Moala, 46, “died from smoke inhalation and very severe burning” after a house fire at Neiafu on Tuesday.
Her husband and neighbours tried to rescue Moala but did not reach her in time.
Police said the victim was with her husband in the three-storey building before realising the blaze had engulfed the house.
They said the husband managed to escape while his wife was trapped by the fire.
The Police statement came after several horrifying videos taken at the scene of the house fire emerged online to the horror of locals and online Tongan international community.
One video that was originally posted to Facebook after the fire shows a woman could be heard screaming for help as she shouted at what appears to be her husband.
Kaniva News chooses not to publish the details and the rest of what the woman was yelling out while struggling in the blaze since we could not be able to verify the authenticity of the video.
The family and kāinga of the victim took what they heard from the video seriously and demanded answers.
Limapō Hopoate, a cousin of the deceased said the videos tell a lot of stories about Moala’s cause of death.
“Since her death I was overwhelmed and find myself in a very stressful situation”, Hopoate, who is a first cousin of the victim’s mother, told Kaniva News.
“Things are still very raw and the family are dealing with their own emotion at this confusing times”.
She compared the family’s experience to a “tsunami” which struck before people attempted to escape and tried to protect each other.
“At the same time we are trying to piece together the many fragments of info to establish a clear picture of what had happened”, she said.
Moala’s body was laid to rest on Wednesday 9.
Police said they were aware of some misinformation being shared on Facebook.
