Body believed to be missing jetskier removed from lake

Searchers on Lake Okareka. Photo / NZPA

Police searching for teenager Bishop Thompson have removed a body from Lake Okareka, near Rotorua, where he went missing after a jetski accident at the weekend.

Rotorua police acting area commander Senior Sergeant Ed van den Broek said while the body found this morning had not yet been formally identified, he was confident it was the 17-year-old.

His body is being taken to Auckland where a post-mortem will be carried out.

Bishop's family, who had kept a non-stop vigil at the lake since his disappearance on Saturday, had been told, Mr van den Broek said.

"This has been a very distressing time for Bishop's family and friends. We are giving them every support we can."

Navy divers found the body in about 30m of water just before 9am today.

Divers used sonar data that was collected yesterday and analysed overnight.

Bishop fell off a jetski being driven by a friend on Saturday and was subsequently struck by another jetski.

It is not yet clear how or why the two jetskis crashed.

- NZPA