KEY POINTS:
Four people died in the water within 35 minutes yesterday.
At 3pm a 49-year-old Wairoa man died while snorkelling off Table Cape on the Mahia Peninsula, between Gisborne and Hawke's Bay.
Police said companions noticed he was experiencing difficulties, but he died before they could get to him.
Officers were investigating whether the death was diving-related or the result of a medical condition.
Minutes later, a man, 26, and a boy, 15, died in the Waimakiriri River, just north of Christchurch about 3.15pm.
And at Ohope Beach, in the Bay of Plenty, a 62-year-old man may have had a heart attack while surfing just off Ohope Beach.
A Surf Lifesaving spokeswoman told the Herald an off-duty lifeguard dragged the surfer from the water after seeing him go under about 3.25pm. Other lifeguards then preformed CPR until the ambulance arrived but they were unable to revive the man.
The spokeswoman said the man's death was not necessarily a drowning as it was thought he may have had a heart attack while surfing.
At 3pm a 49-year-old Wairoa man also died diving at Mahia, south of Gisborne. Police last night confirmed that the man had died suddenly while diving in the area yesterday, but the cause of death was unknown.
Officers were investigating whether the death was diving-related or the result of a medical condition.
Further south, Canterbury police were searching last night for the bodies of two people who are believed to have drowned while swimming with family in the Waimakariri River.
The police national dive squad was called in late yesterday afternoon to search for the pair, believed to have been aged 16 and 26.
Yesterday's water deaths occurred within hours of the 2007 drowning statistics being released by Water Safety New Zealand.
General manager Matt Claridge said 110 people drowned last year. That was up from the 91 deaths in 2006 but still remained the second lowest annual toll since records began in 1980.
Mr Claridge said an average of 120 people had drowned during each of the past five years and the recently released World Drowning Report listed New Zealand as the third highest country in the world for drowning deaths.
Nearly half of all of last year's drownings were recreational based. A third occurred in rivers,and 15 per cent occurred in the surf.
Mr Claridge said 11 children aged 4 or under drowned, invariably due to a lack of supervision and often in the bath or home pool.
"The primary intervention to further reduce drowning incidents in New Zealand is for all children to learn to swim. The internationally recognised approach is one that should ensure all New Zealand children develop valuable swim and survival skills.
Mr Claridge said Maori and Pacific Island people continued to be over-represented in drowning statistics.
Meanwhile Tasman police yesterday located the body of a missing tramper in the Karamea River, about 100m downstream from her original crossing position.
The woman has been named as Annemarie Lee, 39, from Lyttelton, Christchurch.
DROWNINGS
* 110 people drowned last year, up from 91 in 2006.
* 31 per cent drowned in rivers, 15 per cent in the surf, 3 per cent at rocky foreshores and 8 per cent in home pools.
* 76 per cent of victims were male.
* People aged 45 to 54 at most at risk of drowning.
