19 May 2011

Drowned Cook Islands man named

7:03 pm on 19 May 2011

Cook Islands police have named the man presumed to have drowned after falling overboard from the sailing vessel, Kwai, near Palmerston Island.

He is Manuela Fortes, a Rarotonga resident in his forties who was travelling on the Kwai to Pukapuka with others contracted to help build a cyclone shelter on the island.

Fortes has a wife and three children.

The search for Fortes, which involved a New Zealand Air Force Orion, was called off after 60 hours, when police deemed the chances of Mr Fortes being found were slim to none.