Bad weather delays search for missing diver

Police divers begin their search. Photo / NZ Police

Bad weather has called off an underwater search for a woman who did not surface from a crayfish dive yesterday .

Five members of the police national dive squad this morning carried out two searches at the location where the missing 37-year-old diver was last seen.

The search site is located off Motunau beach, east of Greta Valley in North Canterbury, at a depth of about 10 metres.

But at about 1pm, weather conditions and an underwater visibility of no more than 1 metre made it unsafe for them to continue.

Canterbury Police search and rescue hopes to continue the underwater search tomorrow if the weather improves.

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Yesterday an extensive surface search was undertaken by boat, plane and helicopter after a drift pattern area was provided by the Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand.

There have been no sightings of the missing diver since she started her dive about 9.10am yesterday.

It is understood that the friend on the boat had raised the alarm.