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NUKU'ALOFA - As young rioters swarmed towards New Zealander Carolyn Jones she grabbed a large garden hoe and stood defiantly in front of her family's travel business in downtown Nuku'alofa.
"I was going to defend it ... I was going down for it," she said, driven by anger and adrenalin.
But behind the drunken rebels, aged from about 13 to 20, was a thick cloud of black smoke which soon had her choking.
"At that stage fire erupted over the road ... powerlines were starting to come down. I realised then the business was about to go up."
Ms Jones, 30, fled the scene as the frenzied young mob continued its looting and arson in the capital.
She headed about 5km south of Nuku'alofa to another family business next to her home where more troublemakers smashed their way in.
At the hardware and construction depot of Jones Industries a plank of wood was chucked at her.
"They were throwing anything. A stapler nearly hit me in the head."
Ms Jones slipped off her sandals so she could run faster and raced to her family home at the rear of the property.
Inside, her father, Mike Jones, who was ill with high blood pressure, had been oblivious to the carnage.
"I had deliberately not told Dad because of his health but I had to now say really calmly: 'Dad, don't panic but I'd like you to get up and get in the car'."
Ms Jones evacuated everyone including her cousin and a friend from Australia and they sought refuge, with four Northpower executives from Whangarei, at the New Zealand High Commissioner's residence on Thursday night.
Two of the executives had lost their passports in the arson of the electricity supply company's Shoreline building.
Mr Jones, who was back at his home yesterday, said he believed he had been targeted for a number of reasons, including that he was on a Government advisory board that was stamping out corruption.
His diverse businesses make him the biggest private employer in Tonga, with about 250 staff. He is president of the Nuku'alofa Club frequented by the unpopular King Siaosi Tupou V.
The looters had clearly wanted to hurt him, stealing vehicles from his car rental business and even a truck which they used to haul out a safe with $20,000 cash inside from one of his offices. He estimated he had lost $7 million in the raids.
As the family escaped they followed a truck piled with mattresses stolen from one of their retail outlets.
Mr Jones said he would rebuild and recover but was not so confident about the country he was born in and had left as a 4-year-old during World War II evacuations for New Zealand.
"It is very disappointing Tonga did not learn from the mistake of its neighbours like the Solomons ... to resort to this they have lost all their history. They call this the Friendly Islands - huh," he said with disgust.
Yesterday church ministers asked their congregations to pray for peace, for the leadership of their divided country and for the victims including the relatives of those who had died.
The Rev Simote Vea said no one expected an uprising of such devastation.
