Call for witnesses after surfer, 33, dies in collision

Police are appealing for witnesses after a 33-year-old man died while surfing at Wellington's Lyall Bay about 3.30pm yesterday.

Acting Detective Sergeant Andrew Compton said police were not treating the death as suspicious and were working on behalf of the Coroner.

Mr Compton asked anyone who had witnessed the incident, which occurred at the Wellington Airport end of the bay, to get in touch with police.

He said police were conducting interviews with up to a dozen people surfing at Lyall Bay yesterday afternoon.

President of Lyall Bay Surf Club Martin Robinson said the death - after the man apparently collided with another surfer - was a "rare occurrence".

Mr Robinson said he had never heard of anything similar happening in more than 20 years at the club.

At that end of the beach there was a lot of competition for waves and boards would collide relatively often, but hadn't heard of anyone being killed in a collision, he told Radio New Zealand.

The water was not crowded because it was windy and the surf was choppy, he said.

- NZPA