Two unidentified males who were involved in a brawl in a quarantine facility a fortnight ago will face charges for damaging hotel property.

The Ministry of Health [M.O.H.] Director General, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, confirmed the charges when speaking during the Health of the Nation program last week.

He said the hotel’s door and wall were damaged during the brawl which occurred just hours after they arrived from the airport.

“We’ve received reports as of this evening that the door of one of the rooms of this hotel was damaged as well as the wall so we have plans to charge them as they deserved it,” he said.

“There are also plans that the police will operate and make their own charges under the normal law, especially the National Emergency Operation Centre [N.E.O.C] for their own laws because they’ve breached the quarantine orders.”

Deputy Police Commissioner, Papali’i Monalisa Tiai-Keti, told the Samoa Observer a day after the brawl that the police were investigating the incident as it was a breach of state of emergency orders.

“We confirm [...a breaching of the state of emergency] occurred on Friday night,” she said. 

Papalii said the suspects involved in the brawl could not be taken in by Police for questioning as they were in quarantine at that time. 

“They cannot be brought in for questioning as usual because they are isolated so we can’t charge like here like a criminal charge because they are subject to the 14 days isolation."

A Lynn's Getaway employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Samoa Observer that the passengers at the centre of the brawl were removed from the hotel and taken to another isolation location. 

“All we know was that he got too drunk and the other guy was just trying to make him not make so much noise which ended up in that situation,” the staff member said.