A high school on the island of Ta'u in American Samoa's Manu'a group is borrowing fuel from a power plant to keep the school bus running.
The government vessel MV Sili, which broke down about three weeks ago, is the only way of getting fuel and supplies to the Manu'as from the territory's main island, Tutuila, and also the sole means of transport between the islands of the Manu'a group.
Supplies of petrol, frozen food and bottled water have run out and the district governor, Misaalefua Hudson, says the Manu'a high school bus is running on diesel borrowed from the American Samoa Power Authority.
"And they can't keep borrowing because the power plant too, if there's no transportation they're going to run out of diesel to run the power plant and then there won't be any electricity."
Misaalefua Hudson says without the bus, some students face a three or four hour walk to school.
