Cook Islands police patrol boat Te Kukupa is back in Rarotonga having rescued a lone sailor off a yacht that had been drifting at sea for several days after its steering failed.
Cook Islands patrol boat Te Kukupa. Photo: RNZI/Florence Syme-Buchanan
The yacht, Zangano, was reached by Te Kukupa drifting in the Niue exclusive economic zone.
Police said the scuttling of the Zangano was not seen as an option by Te Kukupa skipper, Inspector Tepaki Baxter, and the yacht was left to continue to drift.
Meanwhile, police said it was not their job to question the rescued man about the seaworthiness of his vessel or any perceived failures on his part that led to the rescue.