Weather bomb thwarts landing

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An Air New Zealand flight was forced to abandon landing in Tonga yesterday after running into a "weather bomb".

Flight 27, originally from the United States, left Samoa yesterday afternoon and was headed to Tonga, but encountered horrendous weather.

The Herald understands passengers were warned by the pilot that they faced a "weather bomb" above the kingdom.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said poor visibility prevented the pilots from making a landing after one attempt. The pilots were eventually forced to bypass Tonga for the final stop in Auckland.

Tonga-bound passengers were accommodated by the airline, and a special flight was to take them to Tonga today.