30 Dec 2016

Drowning in Northland, near drowning on Coast

6:07 pm on 30 December 2016

A 52-year-old male has drowned in an inlet at Kerikeri, Northland, this afternoon.

Police said the man was found unresponsive in the water about 3pm.

Attempts to revive the man by members of the public and emergency services were unsuccessful.

Police were at the scene, completing inquiries on behalf of the coroner.

Water rescue on West Coast

Further south, paddleboarders revived a man who nearly drowned in the Buller River in Westport.

Fire Service station officer Graham Heaphy said the man, in his 20s, was with a group of paddleboarders when he went under the water, for about a minute.

Other paddleboarders, some from the nearby Bazil's Hostel, pulled him out and gave him CPR, he said.

When emergency services arrived, the man was conscious.

The group had him on the bank opposite Nine Mile Road.

A local took firefighters and paramedics to the man in his aluminium boat.

A rescue helicopter crew flew the man to Buller Hospital.

"He was very, very lucky," Mr Heaphy said.