Could take ‘two weeks’ to restore Tonga Internet cable

This file photo taken on December 21, 2021 shows white gaseous clouds rising from the Hunga Ha'apai eruption seen from the Patangata coastline near Tongan capital Nuku’alofa. Initially it was believed the fault was due to power failure following the powerful eruption, but further testing once power was restored indicated a break in the cable. — AFP

WELLINGTON: Tonga’s Internet may be cut for weeks, an official told AFP Monday, after a violent volcanic eruption cut an undersea communications cable, isolating the country from contact with the outside world.

“We’re getting sketchy information but it looks like the cable has been cut,” the Southern Cross Cable Network’s networks director Dean Veverka told AFP.