Body recovered from Waikato river

Waikato river. Photo / Thinkstock

A body has been recovered from the Waikato River this morning.

Waikato Acting Senior Sergeant Martyn Hughes said it was too early to determine its identity.

"We are keeping an open mind in relation to the person's identity and have not ruled out the body may be that of a young man who went missing in the Waikato River on 24 January."

The young man's family would be spoken to by police today. Investigators were not aware of any other missing people in the river, Mr Hughes said.

A number of calls were received about the body about 7am and police praised members of the public for reporting the sightings.

"As a result of the sightings the Hamilton Police rescue boat was launched and a person's body was recovered shortly before 7.30am," Mr Hughes said.

A 22-year-old man has been missing since he attempted to swim across the Waikato River on Saturday night.

He is presumed to have drowned after family saw him slip below the surface while another man was attempting to rescue him.

Indications were that the young man was not a strong swimmer, police said.