Mystery surrounds the disappearance of a person after their upturned boat was found at sea two days ago.
Police say the family of the missing person have asked for privacy as the sea and air searches continue offshore from Tauranga today. Police will not say where the person is from or if the missing person is a man or woman.
A plane spotted a capsized boat about two nautical miles south of Mayor Island about 3pm Tuesday and alerted police and Tauranga Coastguard.
Helicopters scoured the sky as boats searched the ocean until late that night, and for most of yesterday.Bay of Plenty police district operations manager Inspector Kevin Taylor said police believed there was potentially at least one person on board the 5.6m fibreglass Sea Nymph named Optimist.