Our thoughts are with the whānau, friends & community.

16 September 2021 

Our thoughts are with the whānau, friends & community.

Our sincere appreciation goes to the volunteer Surf Lifeguards from the Taranaki & Raglan search & rescue squads for stepping in to help the New Zealand Police in the water search for this family along the Marokopa coastline. 

Surf Life Saving Search and Rescue squad volunteers are assisting police with an on-water search of the Marokopa coastline.
The Raglan SAR Squad arrived on Wednesday with three Inflatable Rescue Boats (IRBs) and a Rescue Jetski. They performed a search along Kiritehere Beach where the missing family’s ute had been found on Sunday.

The Taranaki SAR Squad arrived this morning (Thursday) adding an additional two IRBs and a jetski to the search effort. Gracey Monteith, Raglan SLS Search and Rescue Coordinator says the search conditions have improved over the past 24 hours.

“The swell has dropped off quite a bit and we’re getting some good lulls between the sets. This has allowed us to get in to all the nooks and crannies along the coastline.”

“It’s not tropical down here by any means – so we’re monitoring cold and fatigue for those out on the water. However, we’re committed to doing the best job we can.”

“I think if it was one of our family members missing, we’d want to know that someone was out there searching so that’s why we’re here and doing everything we can to help.”

SLSNZ's National Search and Rescue Manager Allan Mundy says the squads are working with Police to search areas of interest.
“LandSAR, the Police Eagle Helicopter, the Coastguard Air Patrol, drones from Fire and Emergency, they’ve all been out searching for the last few days and doing a fantastic job.”

“The Surf SAR Squads are searching the areas where those agencies couldn’t get to due to inaccessibility of the coastline. This includes around rocks, caves and isolated coves as well as at the end of rip currents or tidal flows.”

Mundy said the surf crews were doing a great job.

“It is hard yakka what these women and men are doing out there, but they’re all committed and wanting to do the best they can.”

“There’s a group of 17 people down here, all are volunteers giving up their time to help with this search and I think that’s really commendable.”