Body recovered from submerged car

File photo / NZ Herald

A man's dead body has been recovered from a car found submerged in a Waikato canal.

The car was found in the Awaiti Canal about 9.30am and police rushed to pull it out before the tide turned and washed it away, said Waikato road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman.

It was not yet clear how the vehicle came to be in the canal, he said.

The serious crash unit pulled out the car just before noon and found the man's body trapped inside.

Police are trying to identify the body.

The police unit had been on its way to investigate the scene of a fatal crash between a police car and a motorcyclist yesterday afternoon.

- NZHERALD STAFF