The recovery yesterday of the last of the men lost when a fishing boat capsized on the Kaipara Bar gave some relief to mourners at a memorial service last night.
Taulagi Afamasaga was one of eight men who died when a charter boat, the Francie, flipped on the bar on November 26. Three men survived. At a memorial for the victims last night, Taia Williams, who was on a vessel inside Kaipara Harbour when the Francie was in trouble, said that the discovery of the last of the men was a relief.
"This helps everybody - for grieving and for the funeral as well.
"Everybody has just been holding their own, thinking about the whole thing."
The Cook Islands Consul in New Zealand, Roseline Blake, read a letter of condolence from the Queen's Representative in the Cook Islands, Tom Marsters. He is the cousin of one of the men who died, Fred Marsters.
