Tragedy as 5-year-old dies at wild beach

Two other drownings make for a horror start to Labour Weekend.

A desperate hunt for a child at the popular West Auckland holiday destination of Piha last night ended in tragedy when he was found dead.

Police said the alarm was raised after the child went missing during the afternoon but around 9pm they confirmed next-of-kin were being notified of his death.

It is understood the boy was last seen in the sand dunes on Whites Beach, north of Piha, and was 5 years old.

Police confirmed the child did not drown, and the death appeared to be the result of a tragic accident.

A woman on the beach at the time, who only wanted to be known as KelseyAnn, said lifeguards had asked people to keep an eye out for the missing boy.

‘‘A lifeguard came up to us and said if we see a boy wearing yellow gumboots to take him to the nearest lifeguard point,’’ she said.

‘‘Multiple people asked us if we’d seen anything. We went for a walk but couldn’t find him.’’

Kelsey-Ann said a woman who appeared to be the child’s mother was on the beach at the time.

‘‘I just wanted to go up to her and give her a hug . . . I just feel devastated for the parents, it’s horrible.’’

She said the child was found on the rocks.

Two other men drowned in a tragic start to Labour Weekend – a diver off Canterbury’s Banks Peninsula and a man in South Taranaki.

Diver Seddon Ralph Jane, 42, of Wairoa, failed to surface near Akaroa around 9.45am and is presumed drowned.

Searchers, including Coastguard volunteers, used a helicopter and up to eight boats to scour the area between Damons Bay and Flea Bay for five hours, but failed to find him.

Police said their dive squad would start the ‘‘recovery phase’’ of the search this morning.

The South Taranaki death occurred around 6.20pm.

Police said emergency services were called to the scene in Warea, between Opunake and New Plymouth, but the man did not survive.

Last year throughout New Zealand 113 people drowned in lakes, rivers and coastal waters – a 26 per cent increase on 2014 and well above the five-year average of 103.

So far this year, 61 people have drowned – down from 82 by the equivalent date last year.

Yesterday marked the start of Surf Life Saving patrols in the Far North, Raglan, Mount Manganui and the Coromandel. More will be rolled out further south throughout November and the organisation expects up to 4000 volunteers will patrol 80 beaches nationwide during the summer.

This year Surf Life Saving New Zealand are trialling a system to map rips at highrisk beaches and are due to introduce it next month.

They are monitoring rips for six weeks using 20 ‘‘drifters’’ to plot GPS data and drones to accurately map the currents.

The trial would allow for more targeted and efficient rescue operations, said national lifesaving manager Allan Mundy.

‘‘Rescues often have an element of gut feeling,’’ he said.

Of the 15 people who drowned last summer, seven were caught in rips.