Drowned men named after raft tips in Otaki
Police have released the names of the two men who drowned while using an inflatable boat at the mouth of the Otaki River, on Monday.
The body of one of the men was recovered but one remains missing.
The man whose body was recovered on Monday was Wayne Anthony De Bruyn, 52, of Otaki, formerly of Taranaki.
The search continues for the body of Jared Evan Anderson, 35, of New Plymouth.
A limited search of the shoreline was continuing at low tide on Wednesday with the use of four-wheel-drive vehicles to locate Anderson’s body.
The men were the focus of an extensive rescue operation off the coast near the river mouth after the small inflatable raft they were on capsized on the river, and they were sucked out to sea.
De Bruyn’s body was found on Monday afternoon, but the search continued on Tuesday for Anderson, with a plane, inflatable rescue boats, vehicles and searchers on foot along the coastline.
On Tuesday Search and Rescue co-ordinator Sergeant Bill Nicholson said the two men were friends and originally from Taranaki.
They had to be ‘‘realistic’’ about the chances of Anderson surviving, with police expecting to find a body, he said.
‘‘They were not wearing lifejackets. Indications are they entered the water when it was flowing fairly swiftly, about 500 metres upstream of the river mouth.’’
Nicholson said the men were tipped out of the raft while on the river and washed into the sea. Searchers found the body of the first man off the beach, just south of the river mouth.
Lifejackets might have made a difference, but given the rough conditions at the time, the men might still not have survived, Nicholson said.
He said police had no idea why the men set out on the river on Monday.
Police released a statement at 3.40pm Tuesday announcing they were suspending the search, replacing it with a limited ongoing shoreline search using 4WD vehicles, continuing at low tide for the next few days.
The search on Wednesday faced strong winds, a high river and rough seas again.
Police asked that people call them immediately if they came across anything, such as items washed up on the beach.