Vehicle recovered after one year submerged at bottom of Rangataua Bay

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has recovered a car submerged underwater at Rangataua Bay. Photo / Supplied

A vehicle has been recovered from Rangataua Bay where it was submerged for more than a year.

However, how it came to be underwater remains a mystery.

On Tuesday, Bay of Plenty Regional Council staff waited until low tide to get a barge with a crane under the Maungatapu Bridge, then at high tide was able to reach the vehicle and recover it.

The green station wagon was so embedded into the shoreline that it had to be cut in pieces to get lifted out of the sand.

A crane lifts a vehicle out of the water. Photo / Supplied

Bay of Plenty Regional Council compliance manager Stephen Mellor said it was not clear how the vehicle ended up in Rangataua Bay but estimated it had been there since about December 2019.

"We check with police prior to investigating and retrieving all vehicles in waterways to determine if the vehicle is stolen and/or part of an ongoing investigation," he said.

"Regional council has the ability to check vehicle owner details if a registration plate is identified. If owner details can be identified then we seek to recover the cost of removal from the owner.

"In this instance all means available to identify the owner of the vehicle had been removed and no owner was able to be identified."

When no owner is able to be identified, the cost of the recovery is covered by the council.