The owners of a Cook Islands ship which went drifting in open seas says they're yet to ascertain how the ship ran out of fuel
Taio Shipping has confirmed its inter-island boat, the Manu Nui, is on its way back to Rarotonga.
Taio Shipping's Assistant manager, Josh Taio, says the boat had set out with a full tank of fuel on Tuesday last week, but had run out of fuel by Thursday.
He says the vessel's sister ship, Maungaroa, came to its rescue on Sunday and transferred fuel for to get it running again.
Mr Taio says they'll discuss the fuel shortage once the ship returns in the next day or two.
"We had more than sufficient fuel on board but, yeah, we need to ascertain what the problem was and how they ended up with less fuel. We have a few theories but I don't really want to make any comment on that until we discuss that with the senior crew."
Taio Shipping's Assistant manager, Josh Taio