New island off Tongatapu

I just watched the news and saw the undersea eruption 60Km off Tongatapu.
That must have been spectacular!

I am surprised that so many birds died, because birds and animals usually sense seismic activity and go away for a while.

Video Here-the scientists sound nervous!

Coming soon to Fijian Beaches!

Birds were probably caught in gusts of poison gas that blew faster than they could fly.

well, normally birds and animals get days of warnings before an eruption or a quake, not minutes.

A wag here suggested that they were Tongan birds and therefore too fat and lazy to fly.

A bit rude, I thought.

That was the first film that hit Australian television - apparently a tourist fishing boat, that "just happened" to be in the area. The scientists seem to have arrived later.