Family of British charity worker missing in Tongan tsunami say her body has been found: Angela Glover was swept from the beach along with her four dogs while her husband survived by clinging to a tree
The body of a British woman missing on the island of Tonga after it was hit by a devastating tsunami has been found, making her the first person known to have died in the disaster sparked by an underwater volcanic eruption.
Angela Glover, 50, an advertising worker from Brighton who met tattoo artist James in London before they married and moved to Tonga in 2015 at her behest, had been missing since the island was hit by a devastating tsunami on Saturday evening when the nearby Hunga-Tonga volcano exploded.
She was last seen on a beach on the island of Tongatapu by James as the tsunami came ashore. He survived by clinging to a tree, but Angela lost her grip and was swept away. Brother Nick Eleini then announced the tragic discovery of her body Monday.
Nick, who lives in Australia but has flown to the UK since the disaster to be with his mother, told Sky News that Angela - who ran a dog shelter - is thought to have got caught in the wave while trying to save her pets. Four of her five dogs were swept away in the tsunami, with only one since found alive.
A statement issued by the family said: 'Angela and James loved their life in Tonga and adored the Tongan people. In particular, they loved the Tongan love of family and Tongan culture.
'Since she was a little girl, it was always Angela's dream to swim with whales and it was Tonga that gave her the opportunity to fulfil these dreams. As you can imagine, her family is devastated and we respectfully request that we are given privacy to grieve.'
Just hours before tragedy struck, Angela had uploaded a haunting image to Instragram alongside a message which said: 'We’ve been under tsunami warnings today, everything’s fine. A few swells, a few eerie silences, a wind or two, then silence, sudden stillness, electric storms....'
The post was uploaded on Friday, after an initial eruption hit the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano on Thursday evening and hours before the devastating second blast late Saturday which triggered the tsunami.
Meanwhile new satellite images revealed the extent of the damage to the Hunga-Tonga volcano and surrounding islands, including Tonga itself where Angela was at the time the wave hit. 
Angela Glover, 50 (right with husband James), has been found dead on the Tongatapu island of Tonga, after it was hit by a devastating tsunami late on Saturday
Angela met husband James, a tattoo artist, in London while working in advertising, and the pair moved to Tonga in 2015 after getting married. They had been living in the village of Veitongo, where Angela ran a dog shelter
Just hours before the tsunami hit, Angela uploaded a haunting last image to Instagram of a blood-red sunset, saying the island was 'eerily quiet' after an earlier eruption at the same volcano Tongatapu island: An image taken on February 7 last year (left) shows the Tongan capital of Nuku'alofa before the tsunami struck, compared to an image taken on January 16 (right) which shows lots of water damage from the tsunami
Uoleva island: An image taken in April last year (left) shows a village on one of the smaller islands near the volcano intact, and a second image taken on January 16 (right) shows how it was damaged by the tsunami and blanketed in ash
Uiha island: An image taken in April last year (left) shows the main village on the island before the tsunami, while a second image taken on January 16 (right) shows damage and how the surroundings were covered in ash
Dramatic official aerial maps showed the eruption cloud over Tonga after the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcanco erupted. Pictured: Satellite images of the volanic eruption in the Pacific Ocean on SaturdayThe peak of Hunga-Tonga has been almost completely destroyed, with almost none of the volcanic island visible above sea level following the blast.
Meanwhile extensive flood damage is visible in Nuku'alofa, the capital of Toga, with more flood damage visible on the nearby islands of Uoleva, Uiha and Nomuka, along with ash deposits as debris rained from the sky.
Professor Shane Cronin, a Tonga eruptions expert, shared images of the damage with MailOnline, saying: 'Eruptions over the last month have mainly destroyed new land mass created during 2014-2015 eruptions.
'The 30 December eruption added to that land mass, the 13 Jan one removed a lot of it, and the 15 Jan one destroyed almost all vestiges of it as well as reduced the size of the pre-existing islands.'
Speaking before the discovery of Angela's body, brother Nick had described her as 'a great, fun girl' who was 'lovely to be around'.
The family statement added that she and James had been 'well loved by locals and expats alike' since moving to Tonga, where James runs the Happy Sailor tattoo parlour teaching locals the art. Angela ran an animal welfare charity called Tonga Animal Welfare Society.
Much of Tonga's communications network was destroyed in the tsunami, meaning updates from the island have been infrequent. Though updates from those living on the island have so-far been positive, is expected the toll of dead and injured will rise once signal has been restored.
The news came as Australia and New Zealand both made efforts to send aid and reconnaissance planes to the region. It remains unclear how many people were killed in the eruption and subsequent flooding.
Former Londoner Angela, who works for an animal charity, emigrated to Tonga five years ago.
On Sunday she took to social media to comment on the eruption, saying her home was under a tsunami warning. It is believed the waves hit minutes later.
Tattooist James is believed to have been able to cling to a tree but Angela, who runs a dog rescue centre on the island and several of her animals were swept away.
Her friend Donna Head posted on Facebook: 'Ange is still missing.'
She added: 'We must be optimistic and pray for a miracle… I'm trying to process that this beautiful happy face is missing.
'I shall continue to update when I have further news.'
She finished with the hashtag #prayforAnge.
Another post read: 'My uncle held on to a tree but my Auntie and dogs were washed away.
'My uncle still hasn't been able to find my Auntie. If anyone has any information please reach out.'
As the search continued, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged his country would supply aid to Tongans as soon as possible but added the ash cloud was adding to the logistical problems.
'There's been a lot of challenges there with the ash cloud and the disruption to communications and so we are working together to get as much support to Tonga as we possibly can,' Morrison said.
Australia's Minister for the Pacific Zed Seselja said initial reports suggested no mass casualties and that Tonga's airport 'appears to be in relatively good condition' but there were 'significant damage' to roads and bridges.
Seselja said Australia was liaising with the United States, New Zealand, France and other countries to coordinate responses.
New Zealand's Defence Minister Peeni Henare said at a news conference in Auckland that power had been restored in large parts of Nuku'alofa and some communications are back up.
A New Zealand Hercules C-130 would perform drops of essentials after the requirements are assessed and the navy will also be deployed.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Sunday that the tsunami had a significant impact on infrastructure.
Red Cross said it was mobilising its regional network to respond to what it called the worst volcanic eruptions the Pacific has experienced in decades.
The eruption is the latest explosion on the islands in the past month after days of volatility on Tonga, which has seen smaller eruptions before
The volcanic eruption let out a huge plume of ash and has reportedly created a new island, although communications remain down on Tonga
Left: A satellite image shows the underwater volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai with a plume of smoke rising from it, days before the eruption. Right: The volcano two hours before its eruption in Tonga.Red Cross has enough relief supplies to support 1,200 households with essential items such as tarpaulins, blankets, kitchen sets, shelter tool kits and hygiene kits,' said Katie Greenwood, IFRC's Pacific Head of Delegation told Reuters.
She said the agency is expecting up to 80,000 people to be affected by the tsumani
'That is what we are planning for as a worst-case scenario until we can get further confirmation from the people on the ground,' she said.
The agency said there were concerns that communities may not have access to safe drinking water as a result of saltwater inundation caused by the tsunami waves and ashfall.
The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano has erupted regularly over the past few decades but the impact of Saturday's eruption was felt was far away as Fiji, New Zealand, the United States and Japan. Two people drowned off a beach in Northern Peru due to high waves caused by the tsunami.
Early data suggests the volcanic eruption was the biggest blast since Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines 30 years ago, New Zealand-based volcanologist Shane Cronin told Radio New Zealand.
'This is an eruption best witnessed from space,' Cronin said.
'The large and explosive lateral spread of the eruption suggests that it was probably the biggest one since about the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo,' Cronin said.
'This is one of the massive explosions the volcano is capable of producing roughly every thousand years,' he added. 'We could be in for several weeks or even years of major volcanic unrest from the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano.
Satellite images showed a huge eruption, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising above the sea. A sonic boom could be heard as far away as Alaska.
The Tonga Meteorological Services said a tsunami warning was declared for all of the archipelago, and data from the Pacific tsunami center said waves of 2.7 feet were detected.
Across the Pacific on California's central coast, the National Weather Service reported tsunami waves up to 4 feet (1.2 meters) and flooding in beach parking lots at Port San Luis. About 200 miles (320 km) down the coast, the waves were much smaller at Southern California's Seal Beach, according to Michael Pless, the owner of M&M Surf School.Rachel Afeaki-Taumoepeau, who chairs the New Zealand Tonga Business Council, said she hoped the relatively low level of the tsunami waves would have allowed most people to get to safety, although she worried about those living on islands closest to the volcano.
She said she hadn't yet been able to contact her friends and family in Tonga.
Some churches in New Zealand organised community prayers in Auckland and other cities.
'We pray God will help our country at this sad moment. We hope everybody is safe,' Maikeli Atiola, the Secretary of the Wesleyan Church of Tonga in Auckland said, Radio New Zealand reported.
Ms Ardern said the main undersea communications cable has been impacted, likely due to loss of power.
Power was being restored in some areas on the islands and local mobile phones were slowly starting to work, she added.
One complicating factor to any international aid effort is that Tonga has so far managed to avoid any outbreaks of Covid-19.
Ms Ardern said New Zealand's military staff were all fully vaccinated and willing to follow any protocols established by Tonga.
The Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano is located about 40 miles north of the capital, Nuku'alofa. In late 2014 and early 2015, a series of eruptions in the area created a small new island and disrupted international air travel to the Pacific archipelago for several days.
There is not a significant difference between volcanoes underwater and on land, and underwater volcanoes become bigger as they erupt, at some point usually breaching the surface, said Hans Schwaiger, a research geophysicist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory.
With underwater volcanoes, however, the water can add to the explosivity of the eruption as it hits the lava, Schwaiger added.
Before an explosion, there is generally an increase in small local earthquakes at the volcano, but depending on how far it is from land, that may not be felt by residents along the shoreline, Schwaiger said.
In 2019, Tonga lost internet access for nearly two weeks when a fiber-optic cable was severed. The director of the local cable company said at the time that a large ship may have cut the cable by dragging an anchor. Until limited satellite access was restored people couldn't even make international calls.
Southern Cross Cable Network's Veverka said limited satellite connections exist between Tonga and other parts of the world but he did not know if they might be affected by power outages.View from space of Tonga underwater volcano sparking deadly tsunami
People look at a damaged boat in a marina at Tutukaka, New Zealand, after waves from a volcano eruption swept into the marina
A car is caught in rising water at Santa Cruz Harbor on Saturday as tsunami flooding strikes low-lying areas
A tsunami has struck Tonga sending terrified locals fleeing for high ground as huge waves crashed over roads and into homes (pictured, tsunami waves begin to overwhelm coastal homes in Tonga on Saturday)
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