A coastguard team involved in a major search for a missing swimmer on Northland's coast is now looking for more volunteers.
Whangarei Coastguard played a key role in the search for missing Russian man Alexy Ivanov off Uretiti Beach recently. The day after the 34-year-old was reported missing, a team scoured the beach behind the surfline in the coastguard vessel.
The next day, the rescue boat took out members of the Royal New Zealand Navy, who used a sonar device to search for the missing swimmer. A body thought to be that of the missing man was recovered from the beach last Friday, but police are still to make a formal identification.
Senior skipper David Gray said like any volunteer organisation people came and went, but the number of people they had to draw on for emergencies had dwindled.
More people were needed to staff the rescue boat. Mr Gray said volunteers would be trained with all the skills they needed to help in emergency situations in the marine environment.