Over one hundred descendants of Pukapuka Island have arrived in Samoa from Australia and New Zealand to trace local blood links before flying out to attend ceromonies marking the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Christian church in Pukapuka in the Cook Islands.
A spokesman for the group has told a local television station that people of Pukapuka believe they originated from Samoa with the last links going back to the nineteen fifties when a merchant ship from Apia used to make regular voyages between the two islands.
The spokesman says Pukapuka people have stories about the relationship between its people and Samoa with similarities in languages.