Body recovered at Auckland's Muriwai beach

NZ Herald

11 Oct, 2020 07:36 AM3 mins to read

Emergency services were called to Muriwai beach around 5pm. Photo / Doug Sherring

A body has been recovered on Auckland's Muriwai Beach after it was spotted by a member of the public walking a nearby track.

Emergency services were called to the west coast beach, where the police Eagle helicopter spotted the body wedged between rocks on the water line, in rough water and terrain.

A person walking the Te Henga Track called the police around 5pm today after seeing the body.

Surf Life Saving duty officer Brad Ward-Able said three lifeguards and a police officer on an inflatable rescue boat recovered the body.

"It's standard practice for police to use the skills of surf lifeguards to make the recovery safer for everyone," he said.

A post-mortem examination will take place to identify the body, a police spokeswoman said.

A fisherman went missing at the beach six days ago.

The fisherman had been with a group and fell in the water off Kauwahaia Island, just off O'Neills Bay last Monday.

Search and rescue crews, the Eagle and surf lifesavers have been searching for the man since, but have not found him.

The search for the man was moved to a recovery phase when extensive searches over the week failed to find him.

Police said they were ruling out the possibility that the body located today at Muriwai Beach could be the missing fisherman, but wouldn't comment further until a post mortem of the body had been completed and further inquiries were made.

Surf Life Saving personnel search for a missing person at O'Neills Bay. Photo / Surf Life Saving Northern Region

On Tuesday, lifeguards were sent on an IRB to Whites Beach, north of Piha, after a woman fell into the water.

Anisa Ghaniza was pulled from the water and given CPR, but she was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

The two deaths and seven further close calls on Auckland's notorious west coast beaches this week prompted lifeguards to urge the public to be safe.

"Unless you're confident, avoid going in or near the water," Surf Life Saving northern region chief executive Matt Williams said.

"We've had 33 emergency call-outs for our emergency squads since the start of May this year.

"When you consider that in the whole of last year - including summer - we had just 31, that's a massive increase in our workload - and it's forecast to keep growing," he said.