{"id":485081,"date":"2026-06-19T07:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T07:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/485081\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T07:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T07:43:09","slug":"missing-fisherman-found-alive-after-week-adrift-near-cook-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/485081\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing fisherman found alive after week adrift near Cook Islands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) said the fisherman had set off from Pukapuka Island, about 1140km northwest of Rarotonga, for a day\u2019s fishing on Thursday, June 11, but failed to return.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Pukapuka is one of the most remote islands in the Cook Islands. Photo \/ Google Maps\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Pukapuka is one of the most remote islands in the Cook Islands. Photo \/ Google Maps<\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">Pukapuka is one of the most remote islands in the Cook Islands and it was believed the man had minimal safety or survival equipment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">According to the NZDF, the fisherman was reported as missing to local police the following day, and New Zealand\u2019s Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre requested the RNZAF help in the search earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">The P-8A and crew started the search yesterday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">On Thursday, the Cook Island News reported search and rescue teams were looking for 42-year-old Pone Apiuta in the same area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">It has not been confirmed  it is the same man, but many of the details are the same.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Nearby vessels indicated they could retrieve him, bringing the search effort close to a successful end. Photo \/ NZDF\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Nearby vessels indicated they could retrieve him, bringing the search effort close to a successful end. Photo \/ NZDF<\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cFamily members and the Pukapuka community wait for news of a 42-year-old fisherman who went missing after heading out to sea alone,\u201d the article read.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">The father of one was last seen around 5pm on June 11, fishing off the northwest side of Pukapuka in a 4m aluminium boat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">Pukapuka police were alerted about 1.30am on Friday after the fisherman failed to return home, the Cook Island News reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">According to the newspaper, concern was raised over delays in the initial response, further complicated by rough seas and strong winds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EoZyGajGNiPxVf\" style=\"display:none\">The paper described Apiuta as a \u201ckind person who had a great love for fishing\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) said the fisherman had set off from Pukapuka Island, about 1140km northwest&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25533,74,5831,34384,1558,5532,4194,25534,19630,1874,3096,6501,3180,111,43,139,69,4499,686],"class_list":["post-485081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-adrift","tag-after","tag-alive","tag-alone","tag-been","tag-boat","tag-cook","tag-drifting","tag-fisherman","tag-found","tag-islands","tag-missing","tag-near","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-small","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}