Searches for men at two waterfalls

Emergency services, including police divers, scour water last night for swimmers at Hunua and Maketu falls

Searches were under way last night for two men reported missing at separate waterfalls in Auckland yesterday. One man is missing at Hunua Falls in rural South Auckland after being swept into the waterfall about 3pm.

Search and rescue volunteers and police spent the afternoon scouring the area. The police Eagle helicopter carried out an aerial search.

The popular swimming hole was cordoned off. Police divers arrived about 8pm but packed up shortly before 11pm without finding the man.

Elsewhere, a man who failed to surface after going underwater at a swimming hole in Ramarama, also South Auckland, sparked another search. The incident is believed to have occurred at Maketu Waterfall, off Pratts Rd, about 4.50pm.

Emergency services spent the afternoon searching for the man. Police divers were also due on site.

Police said lighting was being put in place to assist in the search and all going well the dive squad “will get to both incidents tonight”.

The waterfall at Hunua, to the southeast of Auckland city, is 30m high. The pool beneath is almost 20m deep, with a steep drop-off where many swimmers have struck trouble.

In 2016, two teenagers died at the popular swimming spot in separate incidents, prompting calls for Auckland Council to restrict access.

Peter Lemalu, 17, and Lilatoni Vetemotu, 13, both died at the falls within several days of each other.

In April 2016, Auckland Council parks manager Mark Bowater told the Herald there were no plans to fence the falls or assign lifeguards.

Several combining factors make the falls hazardous to swimmers.

Bowater said the extreme variations in depth meant swimmers could go from waist-deep water at the edge to depths of up to 19m in one step.

“We’ve got very deep water there, that’s one of the main hazards.

“There’s a sharp drop-off from the edges. There are some shallow edges that are quite visible and there are even rocks where you can cross from one side to the other but they are slippery. You’ve got a sharp drop down to that deepest point.”

As fresh water hits the pool from the falls’ 30m drop it aerates, making it less buoyant.

While there are no known deaths at Maketu Waterfall, a woman in her 20s was rescued this month after falling down the waterfall and sustaining “multiple injuries”.