A body has been recovered following a single-vehicle crash into the Waioeka River near Ōpōtiki, police confirmed today.
The incident occurred on Friday, October 4, when emergency services were alerted to a vehicle that had gone down a bank into the river, approximately 2.5 kilometres south of the Tauranga Bridge on State Highway 2.
Search and rescue teams, including a boat, helicopter, and Coastguard jet skis, carried out extensive sweeps of the river and riverbank on Friday. However, despite their efforts, neither the vehicle nor the victim could be located at the time.
Since the crash, police and rescue teams remained on standby, waiting for improved river conditions to conduct a safe recovery operation. T
oday, the river conditions had cleared sufficiently for a coordinated search involving local jet boat operators, the Police National Dive Squad, and other rescue teams. The vehicle was located at approximately 12:05 p.m., about 400 metres downstream from the crash site.
Sadly, the person was found deceased inside the vehicle and the body has been successfully recovered.
Investigations into the cause of the crash are ongoing.
Image credit: Lucian Alexe
