A 57-year-old Tonga man survived a night in the ocean after a tsunami wave swept him out to sea last Saturday. The incident happened after the huge burst of a volcano in the island kingdom of Tonga. Lisala Folau told Tonga’s BroadCom Broadcasting that he was painting his house last Saturday when his brother told him a tsunami was moving toward the small island of Atata. The island has a population of about 60. Folau is disabled and has difficulty walking. He said he climbed a tree to escape the first wave but when he got down, another big wave swept him away. I could hear my son calling from land, but I didn't want to answer my son because I didn't want him to swim out to find me, said Folau. Folau was swept out to sea at about 7 p.m. local time. Then, he said he drifted or swam another eight hours to a second island with no one living on it before finally swimming again to the main island of Tongatapu. The experience lasted more than 27 hours and covered 7.5 kilometers. Folau said that he went underwater nine times. On the eighth time I thought, the next time I go underwater that's it, because my arms were the only things that were keeping me above water, said Lisala Folau. He told Reuters, "So the ninth time I went under and came up and grabbed a log. And that's what kept me going.