Person dies near Tauranga after found unresponsive in water at Moturiki Island

A person has died in Tauranga this afternoon after being located unresponsive in the water at Moturiki Island.

NZ Police confirmed emergency services responded to the beach at 1.50pm - where a person was found unresponsive in the water.

“First aid was provided to the person at the scene, however, sadly they were unable to be revived,” police said in a statement.

Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service confirmed the person who died was a male but would not elaborate on what had happened other than saying it was “an accident”.

“A number of senior lifeguards were involved in today’s incident, along with a number of younger lifeguards who were a bit distressed by the situation - it was quite traumatic,” said Jamie Troughton - service chairman.

”It’s not the way we wanted to start the summer.”

Troughton also recognised the efforts of neighbouring life saving clubs Omanu and Papamoa, who were also involved in the incident.

Renee Nichols was walking down Maunganui Beach in the afternoon when she said she saw lifeguards taking an emergency raft into the waters, returning with what appeared to be a man who was unconscious.

She said lifeguards hauled the man onto the beach and did CPR until police came running along the beach to assist. Two ambulance units and the Westpac helicopter also arrived.

Family members were around at the time and were visibly distressed, said Nichols.

“It was really distressing - real as. I was pretty shocked, we weren’t sure what was happening,” she said.

“The waves were heavy. There were lots of rips on the beach today as well - like four or five signs saying where the rips were.”

A worker at a cafe on Maunganui Beach said she’d been told a person had drowned about 2pm and was being tended to by emergency services.

“There’s a lot of police here, there’s been a real accident,” she said.

Moturiki Island, sometimes known as Leisure Island, is located off Mount Maunganui’s main beach.

The island is connected to Mount Maunganui’s Main Beach by a man-made land bridge.

There have been seven preventable drowning fatalities in the Bay of Plenty this year so far, while there was eight last year, according to Water Safety New Zealand.

A rescue helicopter landed on the island, but it appeared to be too late. Photo / Supplied

Across the country, there have been 67 preventable drowning fatalities so far this year compared to 58 in 2021.

Water Safety New Zealand chief executive Daniel Gerrard said those numbers were “way over” 80 per cent of the 10-year average of 80 people.

“More than one-half to two-thirds of fatalities happen over summer, so we are looking at a really tragic year,” he said in October.

A Tauranga Volunteer Coastguard spokesman said it expected to attend about 70 on-water incidents in December and January.

So far in 2022, it has responded to 148 incidents, assisting 389 people safely back to shore (an average of nine people every week).

In October, it responded to seven incidents and helped 20 people to safety, on par with October last year.

Last year was a record year, and the volunteers responded to 218 incidents, almost double that of 2016.

NZ Police confirmed emergency services responded to Moturiki Island at 1.50pm, November 12, 2022, where a person was found unresponsive in the water. Photo / Supplied