VIDEO. Tonga Islands: This inhabitant survives the tsunami by swimming for 27 hours

As the Tonga Islands slowly recover from the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano and the resulting tsunami, a great story has emerged.

That of Lisala Folau, a resident of the small island of Atata, which is part of the archipelago.

Carried away by the tsunami, Lisala remained in the waters for 27 hours.

"I remember going underwater eight times, and each time I was like, 'Next time I go underwater, it's over.'

So the ninth time, I grabbed a log, and that's what kept me going.

A feat for this man, whom Internet users quickly nicknamed "Aquaman", in reference to the superhero.

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Lisala says he thought he would never find his family again.

“I heard my son calling me from the mainland, and I wanted to answer him, because I was afraid that he would come to fetch me by swimming”.

The volcano eruption and subsequent tsunami killed at least three people.

The eruption also damaged an undersea cable connecting the Tonga Islands to the global grid, completely cutting off the archipelago's 105,000 people from the rest of the world.