Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Searchers find two bodies, press on

By Mike Barrington
Reporter·Northern Advocate·
2 Nov, 2006 05:00 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article


Tired searchers who have found two bodies in the Far North are pressing on with their hunt for a missing fisherman despite hopes fading that he will be found alive.
One of the dead was 58-year-old Buck Maihi, of Waima, who died while fishing near the Cavalli Is.
The other was a
70-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease who went missing on a walk near her home at Whatuwhiwhi.
Mr Maihi and a young relative, Tehere Kingi, left Te Ngaere, between Whangaroa Harbour and the Bay of Islands, about 8am on Monday to go fishing in a 4m outboard-powered dinghy.
Police said they had no lifejackets, flares or radio.
They were reported overdue on Monday night and Mr Maihi's body and the overturned boat were found east of Motukawaiti, the southernmost island in the Cavallis group, on Tuesday afternoon.
Eight members of the Whangarei police and 16 Far North Search and Rescue volunteers pulled out of the hunt for 20-year-old Mr Kingi on Tuesday evening and at 8.30pm moved north from Te Ngaere to Whatuwhiwhi, on the Karikari peninsula.
They joined about 25 people from the Mangonui and Karikari fire brigades and local volunteers in a search for the woman, reported missing about 5.30pm on Tuesday after she failed to return from one of her regular daily walks.
Whangarei police search and rescue leader Sergeant Cliff Metcalfe said the search started about 10pm. A hunt through gorse and bracken-covered hills behind the coastal settlement failed to find the woman and the search was called off at 3am yesterday.
The hunt resumed at 7.30am and the woman's body was found at 8.30am on rocks by the water's edge near the northern end of Tokerau Beach.
Mr Metcalfe said police would investigate the cause of death of the woman, who had lived at Whatuwhiwhi with her husband for about 40 years. It is believed she may have climbed on to a large rock, slipped and fallen.
The Whangarei police and Far North search and rescue teams then returned to Te Ngaere where, after a quick lunch and briefing, they set out in kayaks from the beach there and from Matauri Bay in a coastline hunt for Mr Kingi.
A Coastguard boat was also to take a party out to the Cavalli Is to search on foot. Coastguard aircraft made three search flights over the Cavallis yesterday, stopping only when light faded.
Mr Metcalfe - who had had only two hours' sleep since he was called in to lead the search for the fishermen at 1am on Tuesday - believed searchers were now looking for a body.
"With the number of people we have had searching, I feel that if he was still alive we would have found him by now," he said.
The missing young man's father, Sonny Kingi, of Te Ngaere, also feared his son had drowned.
Some of his other 10 children were out on the water looking for their brother but, although Tehere and Mr Maihi had both been good swimmers, the older man - who Tehere regarded as an uncle and Sonny as "my bro" - had not made it to land.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

News in brief: Kate Donley joins Kerikeri Retirement Village board

06 Jun 05:00 PM
Northern Advocate

Northland doctor highlights pay dispute and staffing crisis in EDs

06 Jun 05:00 PM
Opinion

Opinion: The poplar prophecy came true – 15 years later

06 Jun 05:00 PM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

News in brief: Kate Donley joins Kerikeri Retirement Village board

News in brief: Kate Donley joins Kerikeri Retirement Village board

06 Jun 05:00 PM

The latest news bites from around the region.

Northland doctor highlights pay dispute and staffing crisis in EDs

Northland doctor highlights pay dispute and staffing crisis in EDs

06 Jun 05:00 PM
Opinion: The poplar prophecy came true – 15 years later

Opinion: The poplar prophecy came true – 15 years later

06 Jun 05:00 PM
Opinion: Building community connections in sport and recreation

Opinion: Building community connections in sport and recreation

06 Jun 05:00 PM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP