Coroner to see footage of Lake Tarawera drownings

Police recovered the kayaking equipment used by the father and daughter who drowned at Lake Tarawera on Sunday.Photo/Stephen Parker.

Video footage of the Auckland father and daughter who drowned on Lake Tarawera has been forwarded to the Coroner.

Police yesterday named the pair as Zoujie Cai, 40, and his 6-year-old daughter, Zexuan Cai, from Auckland.

Bay of Plenty police communications manager Kim Perks said police wanted to pass on heartfelt appreciation for the support received from the local community and holidaymakers.

A number of people had taken to the water to help with the search, as well as supplying food and refreshments and much-needed comfort to distraught family members, she said.

"Officers working at the scene do not know all of those individuals to thank them personally but feel that their efforts should not go unrecognised," she said.

The pair went missing on Sunday morning. They were staying with other family at a holiday home by the lake.

A resident said a video of the tragedy was filmed by a family friend of the deceased from the shore and it had proved vital for searchers to pinpoint the area where the bodies were located.

It would have been near impossible to have found the pair without the film footage to locate the spot where the pair were last sighted, he said.

He downloaded the video on to a laptop to find the area where the pair disappeared, enabling police to draw a straight line from the shore out 100m to the spot in the lake.

That video has been forwarded to the coroner, as well as the kayaking equipment.

The pair went missing while kayaking near the Bayview Rd boat ramp about 11am.

Both bodies were eventually located and recovered by a group of four divers within a 100m radius of the beach.