A nine-year-old girl is missing after being swept away in a West Coast river.
Emergency services were called to the the Hokitika River mouth about 9.45am.
Senior Sergeant Brent Cook says the girl was whitebaiting with an elderly man when they got caught up in a current.
The man was rescued, but and searchers are still looking for the girl.
Police search and rescue, along with the Coastguard, Land Search and Rescue, Maritime NZ and a rescue helicopter are involved in the search of the West Coast river.
