Warning after trio float down Waikato River using bottles

A group of people tried to float down the Waikato River using nothing but empty plastic bottles and a child’s kickboard for flotation, prompting Taupo¯ police to renew calls for safety in the water this summer.

Police learned the trio might be in danger when a family member called to report they were overdue from the river float on Wednesday evening, said Search and Rescue Senior Constable Barry Shepherd.

The 34-year-old man, 19-year-old woman and 16-year-old man were visiting from another area, said Shepherd, and appeared to have made the decision to attempt a river float on a whim using what they had to hand.

They entered the Waikato River — where a school group was rescued last month — with only a pool flotation aid suitable for a small child and two empty, 1.5 litre plastic jugs.

Although they were ultimately unharmed, the group were in the water for longer than they had planned, prompting their family to call police.

After the alert about 6pm, the Coastguard and harbourmaster were called out but the swimmers were retrieved by passing kayakers.

The trio wore only swimming togs and had been in the water for some time, Shepherd said.

“They were damn cold. They were caught in the nick of time . . . if no one had been there, it might have been a different outcome.”

He said emergency services would prefer people did not try river floating at all, but said: “We can’t stop people going in the river [or] making spur of the moment decisions”.

But people needed to at least take basic measures to ensure their own safety. “If people are going to do the float, they need buoyancy vests, they need to stick together and they need to make good decisions.”

News of the latest incident comes after Water Safety New Zealand released its report on preventable drownings in 2023, which included 16 deaths in the Waikato region. Statistics are not kept specifically for people attempting a river float.

However, Water Safety NZ found a concerning number of boat users did not regularly wear lifejackets.

“Research shows more than a quarter (27 per cent) of boaties surveyed aren’t ensuring everyone on board has a lifejacket that fits them, and, while 86 per cent of children are wearing a correctly fitting lifejacket, a third of adults are not wearing them the entire time they’re on the water.”

Shepherd made no bones about the importance of safety on the water.

“People who make good decisions generally don’t drown.”