WELLINGTON, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A New Zealand air force search has found a Tongan father and son who disappeared on a fishing trip on Saturday.
The P-3K2 Orion on Tuesday spotted the pair waving their tee-shirts on Hunga Tonga island, 58 kilometers northwest of the Tongan capital of Nukualofa, about an hour into their search, said Air Commodore Darryn Webb.
The Orion crew reported that the pair, who had failed to return from a day-long fishing trip off Tonga's Eua Island on Dec. 10, appeared to be well and their blue wooden boat intact, Webb said in a statement.
The crew dropped emergency supplies of water, food and a radio, and contacted the Tongan navy to arrange for their rescue, he said.
"We are very pleased with the successful outcome of this mission and for the survivors to be reunited with their family," he said.
"Although we are thousands of miles away from those who need help, we remain ready to assist our Pacific neighbours if required."
The Orion left New Zealand early Tuesday to scour an initial search area of about 3,000 square nautical miles off Tongatapu, the largest of Tonga's three main island groups.
The mission was the 12th search and rescue operation undertaken by the New Zealand Defence Force in the Pacific since January.
The air force's NH90 helicopters and the P-3K2 Orions had flown more than 210 hours on 17 search and rescue missions in New Zealand and the Pacific since January, representing a 44-percent increase over the 147 flying hours recorded for 2015.
Missions to the Pacific accounted for about 87 percent of total hours flown on search and rescue operations this year.
