Witnesses Recount Surviving a Volcanic Explosion

Clip: Season 50 Episode 8 | 2m 57sVideo has Closed Captions

Hear witnesses share how they survived the most explosive event ever recorded on Earth.

Aired 05/10/2023

Witnesses Recount Surviving a Volcanic Explosion

Clip: Season 50 Episode 8 | 2m 57sVideo has Closed Captions

Hear witnesses share how they survived the most explosive event ever recorded on Earth.

At 5:15pm on January 15, 2022, satellites recorded the volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai blast a cloud of ash and rocks into the atmosphere. Within minutes, tsunami waves crashed into the South Pacific nation of Tonga. These are the stories of some of the survivors.

Aired 05/10/2023

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- [Branko] We were going spearfishing just like we do now.

Me, my son, and the boys.

We could see it from here.

It was nothing out of the ordinary.

And then we see the mushroom was kind of getting bigger.

- [Son] This happen in a couple of minutes, eh?

- How quick it's spreading.

- [Son] Wow.

(volcano exploding) - And suddenly the explosions came.

(volcano exploding) I knew what was coming.

Tsunami.

I accepted the fact that we have three minutes left to live.

I just felt sorry for the boys, my son and the other boys.

They were busy taking pictures and laughing.

But I knew, you get hit by tsunami, you go to deep water, just go.

But the wave is chasing us and coming fast.

Now we in the deep water, we can see the wave come to the other side and hit the main island.

It must have gone underneath us.

We didn't even feel it.

We thought we were now, okay, just go home and that's it, but the worst was to come.

It start to rain rocks on us.

(rocks banging) - [Son] It's getting worse.

- [Branko] And then.

- [Son] No.

- Everything went pitch black.

You couldn't see your hand in front of you.

Everything was dark.

No electricity on the island, no electricity, no lights.

Three hours fighting to see.

- [Narrator] Branko and his family had survived the most explosive event ever recorded on Earth.

(volcano exploding) At 5:15 P.M. on January 15th, 2022, (volcano exploding) satellites witnessed a volcano, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Hapai, blast a cloud of ash and rocks up into the atmosphere.

Within minutes, tsunami waves crashed into the South Pacific nation of Tonga.

(people yelling) - [Translator] I ran with my son.

I could see that the wave was higher than this house.

(people yelling) - [Translator] We saw a huge wave.

It came splashing over the top of the church and school roofs.

(people yelling) - [Translator] A boy came and reached out to grab me.

I said, "What are you doing?"

He said, "I'm going to carry you so we can escape."

(volcano exploding) - [Person] Oh!

- [Narrator] Rock, debris rained down on Tonga for over 10 hours, covering the country in a layer of volcanic dust.

(dramatic music)