Body found after lake tragedy

Friends and family of William Rouppe van der Voort gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua yesterday.

A fishing trip with mates has turned to tragedy for a Rotorua man, who drowned after their boat capsized on Lake Rotorua.

Police divers recovered the body of former John Paul College student William Rouppe van der Voort, 24, about 2.30pm yesterday.

He and four friends were in an aluminium dinghy when it began to sink about 5.45pm on Wednesday.

Four were rescued by a local boatie but William disappeared under water while swimming for shore. Coastguard searched for several hours on Wednesday night and continued the search yesterday, with the help of the police dive squad.

William's body was brought ashore at Sulphur Point by the four survivors, his brother Carl and his father Paul.

Family relieved

His mother Julie said she was relieved her youngest son had been found.

"It's good he was found, I'm so pleased," she said yesterday.

She believed her son, an epileptic, may have had a seizure in the water.

"He would have died peacefully, he would not have heard or seen anything when he had the seizure," she said.

William Rouppe van der Voort

She said her son, an apprentice builder, was a strong swimmer and enjoyed the outdoors.

"He loved creating things and would go out of his way to help his friends, he loved his mates.

"He was a good guy, confident in the water, he knew his limits."

Together with Carl and Paul, she had spent the day at Reeme St boat ramp, Ngongotaha, waiting for her son's body to be recovered.

She said her son and friends had gone out on the lake in "calm, glassy" conditions, which soon turned rough as the wind got up.

The boat took on water as they made their way to shore, before capsizing about 500 metres offshore.

Two men clung to the boat, as William and two other men attempted to swim ashore.

One of the men said he looked around, to see William disappearing under the surface.

"His face went grey and then blank, and I saw him go under."

Weather 'like a monster'

Another survivor said: "We thought it was so calm so why not go out.

"We launched near my parents' house and mucked around in the inlet before we decided it was safe enough to go out into the lake.

"We checked we had plenty of freeboard. The weather was like a monster, it was crazy out-of-control wind.

"We started to head in really slowly, less than 5 knots, and first it was a cup of water in the boat, then a bucket, then the boat capsized. We tried to get the boat in but it was sinking like the Titanic. "

A local man returning from a fishing trip heard their cries for help and went to help.

After taking the exhausted men ashore, he searched for William with Coastguard.

Video from the scene:

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Investigation begins

Police have begun an investigation into the cause. They confirmed none of the men were wearing life jackets.

"As we head into summer, police cannot stress enough the importance of adhering to the basic rules of boating whenever you head out on to the water," a police spokesman said.

"It is extremely important not to be lulled into a full sense of security just because the weather conditions appear calm."