“As the second major water incident in the Northland region in a week, our thoughts are with the missing person’s family and loved ones during this difficult time.”
In a separate incident, one body is still missing after two people disappeared from a boat off a Northland coastline on November 15.
Detective Sergeant Paul Overton said a member of the public spotted the boat, and Coastguard Air Patrol quickly attended to confirm it was the missing boat before Coastguard towed it back to shore.
However, nobody was on board.
Another member of the public found one of the people who were missing in the water. They were deceased, police said.
Overton said the member of the public stayed with the person’s body until it could be recovered.
Police said community members had put out a call to vessels in Pataua Harbour and Ngunguru Bay to report sightings of the boat, described as a runabout.
A community Facebook page said the two people on the boat were male and set off from Pataua.
