Tongan flag bearer raises more than FJD$1m on GoFundMe page

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FILE PHOTO: Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics – Closing ceremony – Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium – Pyeongchang, South Korea – February 25, 2018 – Pita Taufatofua of Tonga during the closing ceremony. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

Tongan flag bearer at the 2016 Rio Olympics Pita Taufatofua has raised more than FJD $1 million, as at 2.45pm, January 24, 2022 on his GoFundMe page for the Tonga Tsunami relief.

In a bid to raise AUD $1,000,000, he has reached approximately 70 per cent of his target.

The have been more than 11,600 donations which individual donations as high as $15,200.

Meanwhile, Pita Taufatofua says his father is safely home after the Olympic athlete was unable to make contact him following the “devastating” tsunami that hit the nation on Saturday.

According to CNN reports, he had “no idea” of his 74-year-old father’s whereabouts following the massive eruption of the underwater Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano.

But on Friday, his father walked through the door of Taufatofua’s family home on the main island of Ha’apai — “sun burnt and tired,” but safe after a “big adventure,” said the Olympic athlete in an Instagram post on Friday.

Taufatofua said his father had boarded a Navy boat in the immediate wake of the tsunami, supporting rescue and first response on the main island of Ha’apai before departing the boat to “survey and assist out” on the outer islands.

 

 

 

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