Residents of Bay of Plenty community Omaio Bay will work shifts to search for two missing surfers -- presumed drowned -- today.
Search co-ordinator Senior Constable Johan van der Wouven, of Whakatane police, told NZPA that the 30-40 locals would search in groups of 10 throughout the day for the missing
men, both aged 31.
The pair from Whakatane went missing about 3pm on Sunday and a search of the bay, 56km northeast of Opotiki, was launched.
Mr van der Wouven said recent "atrocious" conditions had eased and the search today would continue in calm but overcast conditions. A helicopter would do an aerial scan, mainly to establish where flotsam was collecting so the search could be directed to those areas.
No decision had been made about how long the search would continue.
"That hasn't even crossed my mind. It's a hard call but at the end of the day we'd like to recover something for the families' sakes."
The men's names may be released later today.
- NZPA
