A police officer risked his own life to save a person from a river after a vehicle went off a bridge following a pile-up near Tauranga.
Heroic police officer saves passenger, but driver missing.
A desperate search was being made in freezing conditions late last night for the driver of a van that plunged into Tauranga Harbour after a three-car crash.
Five other people were injured, including a "brave" police officer who had hypothermia after jumping off the Maungatapu Bridge to rescue a passenger in the van.
Police said the body of the van driver was believed to be still in the vehicle, about 5m underwater in the middle of the channel.
The passenger, aged 23, escaped from the submerged vehicle before the 53-year-old policeman plunged into the incoming tide to save him.
"He dived off the bridge ... he was a very brave policeman and jumped to rescue the passenger who was floating in the fast-moving tide," the witness said.
"They got swept away with the tide so nobody could see them further up the harbour, but they managed after about 40 minutes to come ashore at a beach not too far away."
The cause of the pile-up, which happened about 6.05pm, was not known last night.
Inspector Steve Kose, of the police northern communication centre, said it was a "very, very brave call" for the officer to jump into the water from the bridge in wet, freezing and dark conditions.
"To go into the water - you just think about it."
Tauranga Coastguard skipper Geoff West said the van was found near the bridge, and debris from it was floating about 20m away.
He said there was about half-a-metre of swell and conditions were "quite windy and cold".
Mr West thought the height of the bridge could be as high as 10m.
A Maungatapu resident said traffic was backed up for kilometres in both directions for about an hour.
