It was a peculiar setting to the final act in a legal drama that has now spanned the globe: a rural Western Pacific island, where visitors are usually tourists.
Authorities fear a second landslide and a disease outbreak are looming at the scene of Papua New Guinea's mass-casualty disaster because of water streams and bodies trapped beneath debris.
The only flight from Australia due to land in Noumea today is Qantas Flight 8693, which is still scheduled to land in the capital at 4.20pm from Sydney.
Air Vanuatu has cancelled all its international flights, including those to and from Australia, as its government decides whether to place it into administration.
The Solomon Islands' pro-China leader has pulled out of the fight to remain as the Pacific nation's prime minister, in a decision sure to be felt in Canberra, Washington and Beijing.
A US Navy and Coast Guard operation on Tuesday rescued three mariners stranded on a tiny Pacific Ocean islet for more than a week after the trio spelled out "HELP" using palm fronds laid on a white-sand beach.
In the far-flung reaches of the south Pacific Ocean, there is a point so remote that the closest living people are the astronauts on the International Space Station.
Families of the victims of the 2019 Whakaari/White Island volcanic eruption have been awarded more than $NZ10 million ($9.4 million) by a judge in New Zealand.
A report has called for a communications link between the political or military leaders of the nations, similar to the so-called "red telephone" between the US and Russia.
The unrest began in the capital after hundreds of police officers, soldiers, prison staff and public servants walked off their jobs in protest over a pay dispute.
Paramedics said they'd been called to treat victims of shootings and an explosion amid a "significant emergency situation", and the Australian High Commission stepped up security measures.
Tuvalu, an atoll home to slightly more than 11,000 people, is one of the lowest-lying countries on the planet, and as such one of the nations at most risk from rising sea levels due to climate change.