Body found during search for diver missing off Canterbury coast
Monday, 6 March 2017
A body has been found during the search for a diver missing off the North Canterbury coast.
Police said in a statement released just after 8.30pm that police divers recovered a body from the Motunau area on Monday following an 'extensive search'.
A group of experienced divers went diving off a boat near Motunau Island, about 100 kilometres north of Christchurch, about 10.40am on Sunday. One, a man, did not return to the surface.
The Police National Dive Squad joined the search for the missing diver on Monday, concentrating their efforts on the area where the diver was last seen.
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Nearby vessels helped search for the man before police were called on Sunday. The Westpac Rescue Helicopter and Coastguard also joined the search, until it was suspended about 6pm.
Police thanked Coastguard and other agencies for their help with the search.
'Formal identification of the body is yet to take place, and until then, police will not be in a position to release any further details of the deceased,' the statement said.
The man's next of kin were being provided with support.
The Motunau area is a popular dive spot, although at one stage it prompted the Coroner to call for a law change.
Between 2003 and 2006, three divers drowned off the North Canterbury beach – Neville Gordon Bennett, 35, Steven Leslie Cope, 44, and Stephen John Sintes, 41. Two of their bodies were never found.
In February 2015 Thai woman Bua-Ngoen Thong, 37, died while diving with a friend for crayfish near Motunau Island. Her body was found by the police dive squad three days after she went missing.