HIDDEN deep in the South Pacific lies a paradise island that became the setting of a real-life story that echoes William Golding’s Lord of the Flies – but with an unexpected twist.
Far from the dark chaos imagined in fiction, the true story of six Tongan boys stranded on the abandoned island of ‘Ata after a shipwreck revealed resilience, cooperation, and hope in the face of adversity.
Once a thriving community, the island of ‘Ata lies about 100 miles south of the main islands of Tonga.
In 1863, the island was tragically abandoned after a devastating incident where the majority of its inhabitants were kidnapped by Peruvian slave traders.
Those left behind were relocated by King George Tupou I to nearby islands, and ‘Ata was left to the mercy of nature — its lush greenery and rocky cliffs slowly reclaiming what human hands had built.
For decades, it stood untouched and uninhabited, a lonely speck on the map, forgotten by the outside world.
That was until June 1965, when six teenage boys from Tonga, aged between 13 and 16, set off on an impulsive adventure.
Bored of their routine at school and seeking a thrill, they “borrowed” a small fishing boat with no real plan other than to sail into the open waters.
None of them could have predicted that this reckless escape would take them to ‘Ata — and transform their lives.
Caught in a violent storm, their boat was shredded and drifted off-course for eight days.
With no food or fresh water, the boys were at the mercy of the elements.
Sione ‘Ulufonua Fataua was only 18 when he and his friends were stranded on the island.
At 73, Sione told People magazine: “The boat was all torn up — no rudder, no sails — and for eight days we drifted with no food, no rain to drink.
“We prayed, knowing only God could save us.”
By what seemed like a miracle, the wrecked group spotted land in the distance: the abandoned island of ‘Ata.
Though marooned on a desolate, uninhabited land, it would prove to be their saving grace.
The boys’ time on the island could have easily mirrored the dystopia of Lord of the Flies, a story where shipwrecked boys succumb to chaos and savagery.
Instead, the reality was one of extraordinary cooperation.
Over the course of 15 months, the boys worked together, overcoming every challenge the island threw at them.
They established routines, shared responsibilities, and built a life out of sheer ingenuity.
Using wild taro plants, coconuts, and fish, they managed to feed themselves.
They crafted shelter from banana leaves and learned to start fires by rubbing sticks together.
“We all come from close and poor families where, whatever you get, you share,” Sione said.
The boys even repurposed old tree stumps and made weights to exercise, keeping their spirits high.
When one of them broke his leg after falling from a cliff, the others meticulously set the bone using sticks and leaves as splints.
And in time, it healed completely.
Their remarkable refusal to let discord take over also ultimately saved their lives and sanity.
Whenever they disagreed, they established a routine of taking time out to cool off.
Sione, who was one of the two eldest boys at the time, recalled: “If anybody had something they didn’t like, they talked about it and we say ‘Sorry’ and then pray and everything’s okay.
“If someone got really mad — like, if I planned something and they didn’t do it — you disappear for a few hours, look at the ocean and clear it out of your mind.”
The boys had almost become one with the island when, in September 1966, Australian fisherman Peter Warner spotted smoke rising from ‘Ata.
Warner, the son of a wealthy businessman, was puzzled. He knew the island was uninhabited — yet here was a clear sign of life.
Upon investigating, he found the six boys, now lean and weathered, but alive.
At first, Warner was sceptical of their story, fearing he had stumbled upon escaped prisoners.
But after verifying their identities, he learned they had been declared dead back in Tonga.
The boys’ families were overjoyed to hear they were alive. Warner took them aboard his vessel, ending their 15-month ordeal.
The island of ‘Ata, meanwhile, remains uninhabited, a place where nature reigns supreme.
But the story of those six boys left an indelible mark on its history.
Their journey has since been retold as a counterpoint to Golding’s vision of human nature.
Instead of falling into chaos, the boys’ cooperation and friendship demonstrated that even in the most dire of circumstances, people are capable of incredible resilience and kindness.
PROFESSIONAL boxer Mylik Birdsong has died aged 31.
The 15-1-1 fighter was tragically killed in a shooting on Sunday in Los Angeles.
Birdsong, nicknamed “King Mylik”, was the reigning World Boxing Foundation International Welterweight champion.
While he was also due to return to the ring for the first time since March next month on a UFC Fight Pass card.
Reports tell of the horrendous moment Birdsong lost his life near Watts, Los Angeles after a shooting at around 4:50pm on Sunday.
Several men inside a dark-coloured SUV are said to have driven up to the fighter and opened fire.
The police say that Birdsong tried to flee the situation but was chased down and shot again.
The boxer sadly died in a nearby hospital later that day after first responders had tended to him.
News outlet KTLA were told by police that Birdsong sustained seven gunshots to his torso.
Investigations are understood to be ongoing with police looking for the gunmen who had fled the scene before authorities arrived.
Birdsong, an LA native, was set to fight Gor Yerisyan at the Commerce Casino on October 26.
Tributes from fans of the exciting fighter have poured in online.
One wrote: “Tragic news. RIP Mylik Birdsong”.
While another added: “Such a tragic loss. Another life cut short too soon. RIP Mylik.”
PUTIN has threatened another nuke threat after his closest puppet has warned the UK is a “nuclear target” and the leader may get “fed up” and hit the button.
The threats come days after the mad dictator escalated his nuclear threats and circulated a chilling simulation showing London being nuked.
Propaganda chief and news anchor Dmitry Kiselyov, 70, has threatened the West once again with nuclear annihilation on national TV.
The autocrat’s trusted puppet warns if Britain “doesn’t lift its restrictions on Kyiv for strikes with British Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russian territory”, the response could be “nuclear”.
He said: “Britain itself will also become a legitimate target for our hypersonic Dagger [Kinzhal missiles] if its [Storm Shadows] are launched deep into Russia.
Speaking on national TV, the mad presenter also told viewers that Britain “should not say it was not warned”.
Russian propagandists have also circulated a simulation of London being nuked in yet another warped threat from Putin both on social media and TV.
The blast, which detonates over Westminster, shows the fireball evaporating central London in a sickening animated video.
Buildings are destroyed and a mushroom cloud goes high into the sky above the capital.
Buckingham Palace, The City, The Shard, and some of the greatest arts and cultural sites in the world are obliterated.
As the explosion spreads, the clip has a rolling ticker estimating how many would die from Putin’s sick decision.
Eventually, around 850,000 people would be evaporated and two million would be injured with a 750 kiloton bomb.
Another 450,000 people will soon die from burns, injuries, and radiation, raising the death toll to nearer 1.5million.
The clip appears to be the latest move to scare Britain from giving permission to Ukraine to fire Storm Shadow missiles far inside Russia.
The video was initially broadcast on TV around three months ago, but has now been shared again by the network’s Telegram channel.
Puppet Kiselyov also told anxious viewers that “the decision on a nuclear response will be made by one man – Putin.”
He added: “He has already been provoked so much by the West that at some point the Russian leader may get fed up.”
Kiselyov is the doyen of Putin propagandists but is also overall chief of Russia’s largest state TV empire – personally appointed by the dictator.
Indoctrinated Russians, including prominent sport stars, have even supported the idea of bombing London.
Famous skier Yelena Välbe claimed this would be a way for her country to be readmitted to Olympic competitions.
She said: “I think that if we threw some serious bomb in the centre of London, everything would have ended by now, and we’d be allowed everywhere.
“I love when the country is strong, and I suppose it’s our strength that irritates the whole world.”
The threat on TV comes just days after the mad leader escalated his nuclear threats against the West, telling his security council he needed to “correct” the Kremlin nuclear doctrine.
It would allow the despot to deploy nukes if Russia or key ally Belarus was hit with conventional missiles.
The Kremlin chief said Moscow would consider any assault supported by a nuclear power as a joint attack.
He said: “Aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, is treated as a joint attack on the Russian Federation.”
The Kremlin said the changes outlined by Putin should be considered a signal to the West that there will be consequences if Western powers participate in attacks on Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia would make a decision on whether not to publish the updated nuclear documents, adding that adjustments to the document on state nuclear deterrence were being formulated.
Previously, Russia’s nuclear doctrine had only allowed it to launch a nuclear strike after a direct attack by an enemy armed with nuclear weapons.
The Russian tyrant has a collection of over 6,000 terrifying superweapons at his disposal.
The huge collection of nuclear warheads can be fired from land, sea and air.
With him even expected to send a nuke up to space.
These hypersonic nuclear missiles could strike “all other beautiful historical places that have long been included in the flight targets of our nuclear triad.”
Putin has also talked of extremely powerful weapons, including so-called ‘unstoppable’ missiles in his controversial interview with Tucker Carlson.
Saying: “We created hypersonic systems with intercontinental range, and we continue to develop them.
“We are now ahead of everyone, the United States and the other countries in terms of the development of hypersonic strike systems.
“And we are improving them every day.”
Putin has previously said he has the hardware for every scenario imaginable and has assured the world his artillery is capable of mass destruction.
He previously bragged he will use nuclear weapons against the West if anyone interferes in Ukraine.
Even going as far as to make a thinly-veiled threat to nuke the West before declaring he’s “not bluffing”.
He ordered Russia’s first mobilisation since World War Two, telling the West that if it continued what he called its “nuclear blackmail”, Moscow would respond with the might of all its vast arsenal.
A MONSTROUS one-tonne crocodile that ate a six-year-old girl was discovered with her human teeth and bones inside its belly.
Cecelia Julan Intik was swimming at Sungai Tatau, Malaysia when she was swallowed by a huge crocodile as her family watched on in horror.
The little girl was playing in the river on Wednesday when her horrified sister and granddad saw her being dragged underwater by the croc.
Searchers later caught two huge beasts – one measuring 17 feet and the other 18 feet and sent them for examination.
Wildlife experts then gutted the captured reptiles on September 27 – two days after the attack – and found are believed to be Cecilia’s remains, according to local media.
In one of the massive river beasts, officials discovered teeth, bones and more – all believed to be the six-year-old’s.
Tatau district police chief deputy Superintendent Jame Reis confirmed: “On Friday, two crocodiles were trapped.
“The first crocodile that was caught at Hulu Sungai Sap at about 9.30am weighed 1.2 tonnes.
“The second animal that was caught at 1.20pm weighed 1.3 tonnes, both captured on the same day.”
He added: “A dissection performed on the first reptile led to the discovery of teeth, bones and coins inside the crocodile’s stomach.”
Some of her family were tasked with watching the gruesome examination to help police identify her remains.
Both reptiles were so humongous that officials had to use a tug boat and a crane to get the beasts ashore.
Stomach-turning footage that The Sun has chosen not to share shows one of the beasts being lifted onto the back of a pickup truck with some of the contents of its stomach spilling onto the road.
The human remains have since been sent to the forensic labs at Malaysia’s Department of Chemistry for analysis, reports local media.
The captured beast was brought back to Jetty Pasar Lama Tatau and handed over to forestry experts for further studies.
Findings from the second dissection have not yet been released to the public.
In nearby Indonesia, a grandad was savagely mauled to death while going for a swim by a crocodile just metres from his home.
M Yunus, 68, was in the Peureulak River on August 29 when the beast ripped him in half, leaving just his clothes and phone behind.
His death is just one in a tragic string of crocodile attacks that have devastated the country.
The Indonesian archipelago is home to 14 types of crocodiles and many large and violent breeds flourish in the region’s tropical climate.
THIS is the shocking moment two laughing thugs filmed themselves ploughing a cyclist off his bike, leaving him with broken ribs and internal bleeding.
The attack saw the Patrick James, 22, and Phillip Adams, 26, mount the curb behind the unsuspecting bike rider before slamming him with their car.
Julian Ford sustained broken ribs and internal bleeding from the vehicle colliding with him.
The horrific video was discovered on James’ phone as detectives investigated him and his accomplice Adams for a separate hit-and-run attack ten days later.
Their second attack was on Katungua Tjitendero who had been walking from work when the attackers struck.
The NHS worker was walking to take the bus home from his job at Southmead Hospital in Bristol when he was crushed by a blue Honda Accord.
James and Adams fled the scene, with one of them shouting racial abuse at Katungua, who was pinned against a wall by the car.
He sustained “devastating” injuries, including a broken nose, a fractured right leg, facial wounds, and cuts to both legs.
CCTV footage showed Katungua walking towards a bus stop at around 4:30 pm on 22 July 2020, after his shift.
Detective Superintendent Mike Buck said the blue Honda appeared “out of nowhere” and hit Katungua from behind.
He said: “A car attacked him from behind. He stood no chance and was left with devastating injuries.”
At Bristol Crown Court on Friday, James and Adams were found guilty of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent for the attack on Katungua.
James was also found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent following the assault on Julian.
For the crimes, the 22-year-old was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison.
Adams, in his absence, to six years having failed to appear in court.
A warrant has been issued for his arrest and conversations have been held with the National Crime Agency to arrange his extradition from Dubai.
Detective Superintendent Mike Buck, of Avon and Somerset Police, condemned the attacks as “absolutely sickening.”
He said: “It was only later in the investigation that we uncovered the attack on Julian Ford, which took place just ten days earlier, and realised the significance – that this wasn’t an isolated incident.
“These were two linked attacks.
“Patrick James filmed the attack, and you can hear him and the driver laughing both before and after as they drove away. Absolutely sickening.”
Pictures taken in the aftermath of the shocking incident showed the car resting against a wall, with the windscreen on the driver’s side shattered.
Katungua was rushed to the hospital where both he and his mother, Hivaka, work to receive emergency treatment.
The court heard that on 16 July, James had paid £300 for the blue Honda Accord involved in the collision.
CCTV footage from petrol stations in the area showed James using the car in the days leading up to the attack.
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