Woman drowns at Ninety Mile Beach

Ninety Mile Beach, where several children were rescued and a woman drowned yesterday.

A woman in her early 20s drowned and two other young women were hauled from the surf in a dramatic beach rescue at remote Hukatere on Ninety Mile Beach.

A police spokesman said the drowned woman was among three young German tourists who went into the water swimming at the spot 38 kilometres north west of Kaitaia, on Wednesday afternoon.

A police officer responding to the alarm raised at 3.40pm was among rescuers who rushed into the water to haul the struggling swimmers to safety. It is understood he was in the surf for 20 minutes, during which time he helped drag two of the swimmers from the water.

The drowned woman was reported missing in the surf. Rescuers found her unconscious and got her on to the beach at about 4.10pm.

Pukenui Rural Fire Party crew and others performed CPR for at least 20 minutes while waiting for an ambulance to reach the scene.

It is understood the ambulance arrived near the remote location via Hukatere Rd at about 4.30pm, with personnel picked up from there by other emergency services and taken to where the woman was still receiving CPR.

The Northland Rescue Helicopter was put on stand-by when emergency services were first alerted that a group of people were in trouble. Surf Life Saving Northern Region rescue boats were also called but had not arrived on site before the dramatic rescue was over.

The death takes the number of drownings in Northland to at least 10 this year. There were 67 drowning deaths in New Zealand as at November 30, according to Water Safety NZ's drowning data.