Tonga: government, 'unprecedented disaster, 3 dead'

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 18 - Three people died in Tongad after the eruption of the volcano that caused a tsunami, Angela Glover from Britain and two local inhabitants.

This was announced by the government of the archipelago in the first official declaration defining an "unprecedented disaster" what has happened in recent days.

Two of the smaller and more peripheral islands have been particularly badly hit, authorities say, with all the houses destroyed on one and only two left standing on the other.

The government also specified that aid has so far been hampered by the ash fallen from the volcano.

(HANDLE).