Body found near where fisherman disappeared

Searchers, including the Navy, police and Coast Guard, searched for a missing man after the boat he was in sank off Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A body has been found where a search is under way for a missing fisherman who disappeared when his boat capsized in the Hauraki Gulf last week.

Police divers had been searching near Kawau Island for Anthony Murray Preston, 41, of Warkworth, who was presumed drowned.

Police Maritime sergeant Craig Kennedy said divers had located a body but could not confirm it was Mr Preston.

The sunken fishing boat was found on Monday and a navy team, with specialist equipment, joined the search this morning for his body.

Mr Preston disappeared when the six-metre craft filled with water and sank within seconds last Tuesday.

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His four companions, one a 13-year-old boy, swam to an uninhabited nearby island where they were found the next day by a police helicopter, after one of the men's partners raised the alarm.