13 Sep 2012

Children abandoned in the Cook Islands re-united with parents in Australia

7:01 pm on 13 September 2012

Three children abandoned by their mother at Rarotonga International Airport in the Cook Islands last week have been reunited with their parents in Australia.

On Sunday September the 2nd, a mother left her three children, aged five, seven and eight, with a local woman, a complete stranger, who was working at the airport, then boarded a flight back to Australia.

The airport worker took the three children to her home and looked after them until their grandmother, who lives in Rarotonga, could be contacted several days later.

The Cook Islands News says a family dispute was at the root of the children's abandonment.