Auckland fisherman still missing

Photo / file

A police search yesterday failed to find 40-year-old Aucklander Peato Samele Ilalio, who is presumed drowned after he went missing while fishing from Kauri Point.

Tauranga police Senior Sergeant Eddie Lyttle said the search for Mr Ilalio resumed at 8am yesterday with a police dive squad, assisted by other police staff and Waihi Beach Coast Guard personnel, scouring the sea and coastline around the Kauri Point area.

Mr Ilalio went missing while fishing with his wife from the jetty about 2pm on Thursday.

Police said Mr Ilalio got into difficulty in the channel because of the outgoing tide.

Police had taped off the access road down to the jetty area where Mr Ilalio's distraught relatives waited for developments.

The Bay of Plenty Times Weekend understands Mr Ilalio, from Otahuhu, had fished in the area before.

Police were to decide today whether to continue the search.

It was the third water-related fatality in this region in the past three days.

Palmerston North woman Catherine Michell Hinz died after being found lying at the bottom of a Tauranga motel pool on New Year's eve.

Tauranga lawyer and former policeman Blair Kiddle, 42, died during a diving trip near Motiti Island on New Year's Day.

- with additional reporting from APNZ