Police have called off their second day of searching the shoreline for a 16-year-old who is believed to have drowned yesterday at a West Auckland beach where his family was camping.
Local boaties, fishing vessels and a police helicopter helped comb the sea yesterday near the choppy shores of Whatipu Beach, where two people went into the water around 1pm but only one person came out.
Staff at the campground where the boy’s family was staying called police around 1.30.
The search was called off last night as darkness set in – the boy’s family maintaining a vigil at the shore, waiting for his return. It resumed at 8.30 this morning, but after four hours police decided to abandon the shoreline search and focus instead on providing support to the family.
A police helicopter will continue to make sporadic aerial searches and Surf Life Saving will perform sweeps of the area in coming days, police said.
Whatipu Beach is not reguarly patrolled by surf lifesavers, and the entrance to Manukau Harbour is known for its large waves and dangerous currents.
Jeremy Saunders, who has lived out in Whatipu for nine years, told 1 NEWS today he’d never go out in the water, which he described as extremely dangerous.
“I can’t even emphasise it enough, don’t swim out here,” he said.
Mr Saunders said the best place for family to swim is in the lagoon at the start of the beach.
But if he’s desperate for a swim, he’ll only go knee-deep.
“I even wear my life jacket when I fish off the rocks and carry an EPERB,” he said.
Local iwi were expected to place a rahui on the beach today.
There have been three other apparent drownings this holiday period: a freediver at Seatoun in Wellington on Christmas Eve, a man boating near Turangi on Boxing Day and a woman who died on Dec. 27 at Mangawhai Estuary.
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