The governor of Pitcairn Island says the small community is in shock at the death of a man during an attempt to get him medical help.
Terry Young, who was convicted of rape during a high profile trial in 2004, died yesterday of a suspected heart attack.
He was being transported by yacht to Tahiti for medical treatment for what was thought to have been acute appendicitis.
The Pitcairn governor and British High Commissioner to New Zealand, Vicki Treadell, says he was being taken to another island, Mangareva, where a plane could evacuate him to Tahiti.
She says there is no airstrip on Pitcairn and the yacht was the closest vessel responding to an emergency appeal for transport.
Young had only recently been paroled.
