Man dies after late-night kayak outing

File photo / Martin Sykes

A 30-year-old Auckland man has died after an early-morning kayaking excursion in a Northland river mouth went tragically wrong.

Police Search and Rescue co-ordinator Spence Penney said the man's body was found about 250m north of the Horahora River mouth, 22km northeast of Whangarei, early yesterday. It is presumed he drowned.

He had been reported missing about 24 hours earlier. A tsunami alert following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan on Friday was in effect when the man ventured into the water.

His name has not been released but members of his family were notified and drove north to be at the scene yesterday.

Police say the man was staying at Horahora for the weekend. He had set out on a kayak between 3.30am and 6am to check a net that had been set in the river mouth.

It did not appear the man had been wearing a lifejacket or had told anyone where he was going.

At about 7.30am on Saturday, friends of the man had raised the alarm when his kayak was found washed up on a beach.

A full-scale search and rescue operation, involving Police Search and Rescue, coast guard, Land Search and Rescue and a police spotter plane, was launched soon after.

Teams searched until darkness fell on Saturday night to no avail.

They were to resume searching yesterday when a pair of locals walking along the beach near the river mouth found the man's body. Police recovered the body and the matter has been referred to a coroner. Mr Penney said it was not clear how the man had ended up on the water and Victim Support was working with the man's friends and family yesterday.

It was a tragic - and probably preventable - death, he said.

"It's important that people let others know where they are going when they go out on the water.

"Even at that hour of the morning, you should let people know what you are doing and where you are going.

"It didn't appear he was wearing a lifejacket, which is disappointing. It falls into the category of a preventable death - it's absolutely tragic when something like this happens."