Clubmates join search for missing swimmer

The rural communities of Pongaroa and Akitio in southern Hawke's Bay have rallied to help search for a young Fijian man who went missing while swimming at their coastal beach on Monday afternoon.

Police said 22-year-old Eroni Ravaga-Gaunavou from Vanua Levu in Fiji, had been swimming with a small group of friends a short distance from the shore at Akitio beach. When he went underwater and failed to surface, his friends raised the alarm.

Mr Ravaga-Gaunavou arrived in New Zealand on a visitor's permit in February to play rugby for Puketoi Rugby Club and recently made the Wairarapa Bush squad. He was due to make his debut for the rep team yesterday against New Zealand Universities.

Wairarapa Bush Rugby community rugby co-ordinator Doug Bracewell said the incident was tragic. He said Mr Ravaga-Gaunavou was an outstanding player and a pivotal member of the Puketoi team.

Puketoi club members gathered at Akitio yesterday to help with the search.

Helicopters Hawke's Bay flew the search area yesterday morning and again at low tide in the afternoon. The police national dive squad also attempted searches but the rips and swells were too strong to make a dive search effective.

Eight teams of two local search and rescue volunteers were searching the coastline north and south of where Mr Ravaga-Gaunavou went missing, with support from four quad bikes and two local crayfish boats.

One of the volunteers helping with the search, who did not want to be named, said the community had pulled out all the stops to look for Mr Ravaga-Gaunavou.

Search attempts had been made at 1.30am and 10am yesterday while another was to be made at 2am today.

"I've just come home for a rest and haven't really slept for the past two days. We've probably got about 30 to 40 local people going out and searching from around the Akitio and Pongaroa areas," the volunteer said.

"Most of the searches are land-based, some are on the sea. But we'll keep going.

"It's amazing to see the effort people are putting in, it's the type of thing you'd only get in a rural community," he said.