An overdue fishing vessel off the coast of Whangarei was located on Saturday afternoon, but the two crew members were missing.
Detective Sergeant Paul Overton said search efforts were continuing to find the outstanding person.
The boat was spotted by a member of the public and Coastguard Air Patrol quickly confirmed it was the missing boat, which was towed back to shore, but nobody was on board, he said.
“Another member of the public then located a person deceased in the water and they stayed with them until the body could be recovered.
“While this isn’t the outcome any of us wanted, we remain focused on bringing both people home to their whānau.”
The vessel had failed to return to Pataua South at 7pm Friday and a search began two hours later.
The Coastguard, police, search and rescue volunteers, and the Eagle police helicopter were stood down at about 4am.
The search effort resumed at 8am on Saturday and rescue teams located the vessel empty in the afternoon.
A large-scale search by sea and air continues, along with searches of the shoreline.
“I would like to acknowledge all of those people involved, including boaties and members of the community who offered their help,” Sergeant Overton said.
The search involved police, Land Search and Rescue, volunteers from Coastguard Tūtūkākā, Coastguard Whangārei and Coastguard Air Patrol, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, Auckland Maritime Unit, and members of the community.
