A US state senator on a family reunion in Rarotonga has drowned while trying to save his brother-in-law, who also died.
He is Republican state senator from South Dakota Craig Tieszen, 68.
Sources from Rarotonga told 1 NEWS the senator's brother in law Brent Moline, 61, had got into difficulties after capsizing a kayak outside the reef in Avana Harbour.
Senator Tieszen attempted to help him, but both men drowned.
Police emergency services were called and they went out in a zodiac where they recovered the bodies of both men.
The family will repatriate them back to the US.
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