Simeki met his girlfriend Leonie Hafke one and a half years ago at the Riverhead Tavern where they both worked. Photo / Facebook
Simeki met his girlfriend Leonie Hafke one and a half years ago at the Riverhead Tavern where they both worked. Photo / Facebook
Police on Indonesia's Nusa Peninda island believe they have found the body of a missing New Zealand man who apparently died trying to save his girlfriend after she was swept into the water.
It's believed Temson Mannie Junior Simeki had been trying to rescue his girlfriend, who was hit by a rogue wave while taking a selfie on the edge of a cliff, when he disappeared.
The incident occured at the Angel's Billabong tourist spot on Monday morning.
Temson Junior Simeki was trying to rescue his girlfriend. Photo / via Facebook
Nusa Penida precinct police chief Ketut Suastika told AAP that two fishermen found a body floating in Crystal Bay near the cliff at 7.30am on Friday.
The fishermen retrieved the body and contacted police, and the body has been taken to Sanglah Hospital for further identification.
Police believe a necklace found on the body indicates that "it's most likely that the victim is the foreigner who was dragged by the wave in Angel Billabong," Police chief Suastika said.
"For now, the identification is not confirmed yet, but we strongly suspected it is the New Zealand tourist who went missing in Angel Billabong beach the other day," he said.
German woman Leonie Hafke after she was rescued in Bali. Photo / Supplied
Simeki's girlfriend, 20-year-old German national Leonie Alanise Hafke, was knocked into the sea and the 23-year-old Aucklander jumped in to save her.
Simeki's brother Cruz Simeki arrived in Bali yesterday with his mother and best friend.
They rushed to hospital to visit Hafke who is in hospital with a collapsed lung.
"As soon as we saw her she broke down in tears straight away, we both did, we all did," Cruz said in an earlier interview with the Herald.
"She couldn't help herself but think of TJ. She was saying 'you sound like him'. It was really hard."
Cruz said the couple were very much in love, met about a year and a half ago at the Riverhead Tavern, where Simeki's mother also workd.
They dated for three months before travelling around New Zealand then Southeast Asia.
Simeki was the youngest of two brothers and two sisters. He was supposed to come home early this month but had decided to stay an extra month with Hafke.
