Pair who died in holiday drownings named

Christmas was a bad day on the water for New Zealand. Photo / iStock

Police have named a man and a woman who drowned at Ruapuke Beach on Christmas Day.

They were Chinese nationals Xia Liu, 38, and Ji Shun Li, 33.

Police said the pair had been living in Hamilton, working on a large-scale engineering project.

Emergency services were called to the beach near Raglan at 5.40pm on Christmas Day after reports of two people in difficulty in a strong rip.

"Various rescue organisations arrived at the scene to find the incident in fact involved three people and bystanders were providing rescue breathing to one man who had been found in difficulty in the surf attempting to bring an unresponsive woman to shore," Te Kuiti Sergeant Craig Lindstrom said.

A 30-year-old man was flown to Waikato Hospital in a serious condition and a second man's body was recovered from the sea.

Police worked with Interpol to identify the pair.

"Waikato police have been ably assisted by a Hamilton-based colleague, a company representative and the Chinese Consulate in Auckland in liaising with the various families to repatriate the bodies of our victims," said Mr Lindstrom.

"To have such a tragedy strike on what is one of our country's most significant festive occasions really brings home the importance of water safety.

Ruapuke Beach is not patrolled by lifeguards.

So far 100 people have died in the water this year, including eight over the holiday period.

"None have died in areas patrolled by lifeguards so the message is pretty clear, swim between the flags," Mr Lindstrom said.