A matai of Tau village,Ale Filoialii has confirmed an incident involving unidentified ships reported from Manu’a early this morning.
He quotes villagers saying that two large ships were sighted off Ta’u Island beginning Wednesday but it was only last night that the presence of the two vessels became an issue.
Ale says he never saw the two vessels because by the time he was made aware of them late last night, the two ships had disappeared.
He quotes several residents of Tau village saying that during the day, the vessels are not visible but at night they can see lights from the two boats from shore.
Ale says last night a couple fishing for alili or shellfish reported seeing a small boat from these two vessels coming to shore. The couple also reported seeing figures taking items ashore. The small boat landed in an area of Tau village which is not inhabited.
Ale relates that at another part of Tau village called Fagamalo, another small boat was sighted lastnight making its way to shore.
Villagers who had gotten wind of what the couple saw, gathered on shore. According to Ale, people were afraid not knowing what these boats were up to.
“It’s the first time this has ever happened in Manu!a, Ale told KHJ News, People were scared.
He says one of the untitled men from the village, named Solosolo fired a gun in the air, his intention being to scare off the “intruders.”
Ale says at that point, both boats which had come to shore, quickly returned to where the two large boats were anchored. And at that point the two large ships disappeared.
The Ta’u chief Said he was tied up in a village fundraising Siva last night and shortly after he was getting into bed, he was awoken by village men alerting him about what was happening.
He says by the time they got to Fagamalo, there were no lights from the large ships .
When KHJ News spoke with Ale this afternoon he said the mysterious vessels had just disappeared.
Ale says he called several offices on Tutuila last night trying to get them to check on the two ships. He said he wanted the authorities here to alert Honolulu to monitor satellite imagery that could identify the vessels and where they had gone to.
He said he had called DPS, Homeland Security, and Coast Guard.
Lt. Kevin Whalen of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment Unit said a full report is being forwarded to their office in Honolulu.
