Historical reference record — not independently verified
Shark incident at Swimming with humpback whales, Vava'u, TONGA — 2002-09-27
What happened
Historical record: Swimming with humpback whales, Vava'u, TONGA. Recorded date: 2002-09-27. Classification: Provoked.
What is known
- Recorded classification: Provoked
What remains uncertain
- Some derivative records display the incident one day earlier.
- Historical source match supplied with the recovery material; not independently verified.
Fact panel
- Date
- 2002-09-27
- Date precision
- Exact
- Location
- Swimming with humpback whales, Vava'u, TONGA
- Country
- TONGA
- Activity
- Swimming
- Incident classification
- Provoked
- Area / state
- Vava'u
- Person / vessel
- Felipe Tonga
- Sex
- M
- Time
- 15:00
- Injury / case note
- Thigh lacerated.
- Outcome
- Non-fatal
- Species
- Tiger shark, about 1.5 m
- Species confidence
- Reported
- Coordinate precision
- Region
Incident location
Swimming with humpback whales, Vava'u, TONGA
Approximate area: Vava'u
The marker represents the named area, not the exact incident site.
The interactive map loads when it comes into view. Incident details remain available as text.
Location precision: Approximate area
Representative map position for Vava'u from Natural Earth. This marks the general area, not the exact incident site. This is historical location context, not live shark tracking or a measure of risk.
Sources and verification
- GSAF-derived Tonga historical record — www.shark-utopia.comSupports: Historical incident fields; supplied source match, not independent verification
Shark incident records can change as investigations develop. This page shows the current verification status and was last restored from supplied historical reference material on 2026-09-25.
Historical facts retain the provenance and uncertainty of the cited references. Source timestamps record when the supplied material was imported, not an independent source retrieval or verification.
Supplementary content updated: 2026-09-24. This does not change the original verification status or review date.