Police can now release the name of the man missing at Maruia Falls.
He is Mikhail Buchanan, also known as Mikhail Anderson, 26, of Christchurch.
“This continues to be an incredibly difficult time for Mikhail’s family and friends, and we want to be in a position to provide them with closure,” says Nelson Bays Area Commander Matthew Scoles.
Searching continued over the weekend and included searching of the river bank, camera searches of pools that were unable to be accessed by the Dive Squad due to conditions, and a chute downstream of the falls. However due to water conditions visibility was an issue throughout the weekend.
“Over the past 10 days the search teams have been confronted with considerable challenges due to the weather and river conditions but have made use of all search windows available,” says Inspector Scoles.
“This has included searches of the river by the Police National Dive Squad, Nelson Dive Club, Swift Water Rescue Team and Nelson Surf Rescue, and onshore support and bank searches by Police Search and Rescue members.”
In total teams have searched the area of the falls and about two kilometres downstream.
Police expect to reassess in the coming days and determine whether further searching is possible in current conditions.
