Bodies recovered of two men drowned while palolo hunting

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Two men who were out palolo hunting on Monday have been found after they drowned at sea.

The first body was recovered on Monday and has been identified as former ASG Sports Complex director, Henry Tavake. The second body was found Tuesday morning by the Marine Patrol Boat and his identity has not yet been confirmed.

Search and Rescue director, Faamasino Upuese Galoia confirmed this in response to questions from Samoa News.

 “The men fell overboard at the head of the airport [runway]. The first body was found the same night, and the second body was found [Tuesday] morning around 11am.

 “I cannot give out any further details as we have yet to receive a full report from the Marine Patrol that conducted the search, which started Monday when we first received the call.

 “It was suspended in the wee hours of Monday night and continued on Tuesday,” he said.

Asked whether the men had life jackets on, Faamasino said he cannot comment on that aspect at the moment, but reports from Marine Patrol officers that conducted the search told Samoa News the men did not have any life jackets.

 “I cannot comment on that, but what I can say is that, it is a major issue, when people go out at sea, they need to wear life jackets, but it’s somewhat difficult to enforce that,” Faamasino said.

Samoa News was at the Marine Patrol dock when the second body arrived on the police boat and there were several marine patrol officers that were on board as part of the search party. There were also jet skis that assisted with the search.