26 Jun 2012

Sailor's body returns home

9:21 pm on 26 June 2012

The body of a New Zealand sailor who died in a motorcycle crash in Rarotonga on Saturday arrived in the country on Tuesday.

William Paratini Delamere, 22, had been serving on the Navy's offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Otago, which has been operating in the Pacific.

The Defence Force says navy personnel accompanied Mr Delamere's body on an air force flight to Whenuapai where the flight was met by the Chief of Navy and family and friends on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr Delamere's family say they are relieved he is back in the country and his body will lie in state at the family marae in Whitianga before a private tangi.