A teenage swimmer who disappeared during a Christmas Day dip is still missing and feared dead.
The 17-year-old and his girlfriend went for an afternoon swim at Wanganui's Castlecliff Beach after Christmas lunch. They were swimming beside one another, close to the surf club, when he was caught in a rip.His partner noticed he was in trouble and tried to raise the alarm.
It's understood he disappeared beneath the surface very quickly, and was not seen again. Emergency services were called to the west coast beach at about 3.55pm and an extensive air, land and water search was launched.However, after having found no sign of the teen by about 9.30pm, the effort was suspended.
The police-led search resumed at 6am today. A spokesman at Castlecliff Surf Club said lifeguards had a boat in the water."We've had no luck at the moment," he said.
The spokesman said conditions were calm and clear, and the surf was flat. Wanganui Inspector Gini Welch, said they had "searched everywhere we can".
"It's a very tragic accident," Ms Welch said."Getting caught in a rip is the most awful and unfortunate thing to happen to anybody [in the surf]."
Wanganui mayor Annette Main said the tragedy would affect the close-knit community hard.
"It'll be somebody that we all know, either personally or who we know of," she said.
"It's a lovely beach, everybody loves going out there on Christmas afternoon and to lose somebody like that is really tragic, especially on Christmas Day."
It highlighted the dangers of rips and currents, especially on West Coach beaches, Ms Welch said.
"Everyone is celebrating and relaxing, and it's just a reminder to all of us that it's not just our homes, schools, and roads that we need to keep safe," Ms Welch said.
"We need to keep ourselves and our families safe in the water as well." There are fears that as many as five people have now drowned around New Zealand's coastline since Christmas Day. An 82-year-old drowned in a pond at Opito Bay near Kerikeri this morning. Yesterday, three people, including a 3-year-old boy, died in a string of water tragedies.