Police name Taranaki drowning victim

Tukaha Ashby and Heydon Healey of Waitara survey the deceptively calm entrance to Waitara River, the scene of yesterday's drowning. Photo / Jim Tucker

A man who drowned after being thrown from a boat on the Waitara River mouth in Taranaki yesterday has been named by police.

He was 52-year-old Erka Xu, a Chinese national who had been residing in Hamilton for some time.

He had been visiting friends in the New Plymouth area.

Two men were out fishing yesterday morning and as they were trying to cross the Waitara Bar, the small inflatable boat they were in was overturned by a wave.

As a result the two men were thrown into the water. The men were struggling 200m from shore when a local surfer noticed them.

The surfer managed to reach the boat, which had righted itself in the water, and used it to rescue the men.

Mr Xu was unable to be revived and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

"There is no doubt the surfer saved the life of the other man who was in the boat when it overturned," Senior Sergeant Thomas McIntyre of New Plymouth police said.

"His actions are commendable and we are continuing to speak to him and other witnesses in an effort to piece together the sequence of events."

Neither of the two men were wearing a life jacket at the time the boat overturned, police said.

The survivor, a local man in his 60s, suffered from minor hypothermia and was treated by ambulance staff at the scene.

The death has been referred to the coroner.