KEY POINTS:
An air and sea search was to resume early today for one of two Auckland men who failed to return from a fishing trip off the east coast of the Far North on Monday.
The body of the missing man's 58-year-old companion was found by searchers east of
the Cavalli Islands yesterday afternoon not long after the pair's upturned dinghy was found floating about 12km east of Step Island in the Cavalli group, off Matauri Bay.
Neither the missing man, 20, or his dead companion had been named by police last night.
It is understood both are former local men who now live in Auckland and police were trying to contact their extended families.
The pair set out in a four-metre aluminium dinghy from Te Ngaire, between Whangaroa Harbour and Matauri Bay, on Monday morning.
They were due to return from their fishing trip early in the afternoon and were last seen about 1km offshore from Te Ngaire at around 4.30pm.
Search and rescue authorities were alerted in the early hours of yesterday morning when the fishermen failed to return.
A fixed wing aircraft from Northland Coastguard Air Patrol, coastguard boats from Whangaroa and the Bay of Islands and, later, the Northland Electricity Rescue helicopter, began a search.
Early yesterday, a sealed white bucket attached to the dinghy's anchor rope was found in the area where the men were last seen.
Later, searchers found the men's upturned dinghy, minus its 2hp outboard motor, floating east of Step Island, the southernmost island in the nearby Cavalli group.
The body of the 58-year-old was located soon after in the sea about 4km from the dinghy.
"They could have tipped out of the boat. There are any number of scenarios. We don't know what happened," said search and rescue co-ordinator Sergeant Cliff Metcalfe last night.
A search continued for the younger man, with searchers using kayaks and small inflatable craft around islands in the Cavallis.
"We're forever hopeful," Sergeant Metcalfe said of the man's chances.
ILL PREPARED
* The dinghy had oars but no lifejackets and flares
* The only communication available was a cell phone