A man is still missing off the coast of Patāua South a week after he failed to return home from a fishing trip.
A man is still missing off the coast of Patāua South a week after he failed to return home from a fishing trip.
A rāhui on a large coastal area in Whangārei after a fishing trip turned tragic will be scaled back from Saturday evening.
Today marks a week since a search was launched late on Friday after an 11-year-old boy and an older family member failed to return from a fishingtrip off the coast of Patāua South in Whangārei.
The boy’s body was found on Saturday shortly after the pair’s boat was located drifting with nobody onboard. The man remains missing.
A rāhui was placed on the east coast and covered Paparoa-Tutukākā to south of Waipu Cove, including Whangārei Harbour.
Ngāti Kororā, the wider hapū of Whangārei Terenga Parāoa and Te Waiariki, announced today they had met to consider the rāhui.
They decided the rāhui would last until 6pm on Saturday, when it would change to a scaled back area.
From then on, the rāhui would cover Pā Harakeke (also known as Goat Island found at the southern end of Ngunguru Bay) to Toka Whakapiripiri (also known as the northern rocks of Kauri Mountain Beach) and extends 500m offshore.
The scaled down rāhui will reach from Goat Island to Kauri Mountain Beach from 6pm on Saturday.
People should refrain from swimming, boating and collecting seafood from the area until the rāhui ends on November 28 at 6pm.
They welcomed anyone keen to help the “last stages” of the search to report to Sergeant Paul Overton at the field base on Mahanga Rd, Patāua South.
Police, Coastguard and the Royal New Zealand Navy have undertaken extensive searches of the area since Friday.
Police announced on Tuesday the search would be scaled back but Auckland Coastguard Air Patrol continued with an aerial search that day.
Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.
