A search started about 4pm on Thursday after emergency providers had been notified of an individual in hassle within the water on the mouth of the Rees River.
The police nationwide dive squad arrived about 1pm on Friday and had been looking about 50m from the shore.
The physique was recovered simply after 4pm. Otago Lakes Central Area Commander Paula Enoka stated the person had been serving to a younger boy when he acquired in hassle himself. The drowning was the second at Lake Wakatipu in lower than every week after Wānaka man Linkin Kisling died on Friday final week saving his 10-year-old son.
It was a “horrible tragedy”, Enoka stated.
“Recently we’ve lost the life of one person only just over a week ago and at the moment we’re searching for a second person in what appears to be similar circumstances.
“I really feel for the household of the primary swimmer who most likely should relive this tragedy once more whereas we’re trying to find this individual at the moment.”
The area where the body was found was close to the spot where Kisling was located but closer to the shore, she said.
“It remains to be the identical space that has the fast-running river that gives a unique present to the water persons are normally swimming within the lake.”
Signs warning people of the danger of swimming in the lake were installed on Friday after the Queenstown Lakes District Council ordered them following Kisling’s death.
A council spokesperson said learning a second person drowned at the head of the lake so soon after the first tragedy was “actually devastating”.
“Our ideas are at first with the individual’s mates and whānau, in addition to the Glenorchy group who will naturally share a way of disappointment, shock and loss.”
The question of safety on our waterways was complex and involved several different agencies and the wider community, they said.
“There is not any single authority accountable for the selection individuals make to enter a physique of water. However, the steps we’re taking to make sure nothing like this occurs once more is a logical and sensible approach that council can assist at this extremely unhappy time.”
Before the council’s new signs went up, Glenorchy locals took matters into their own hands to warn people about the deadly swimming spot and erected a handwritten sign with a simple message: no swimming.
Glenorchy resident Niki Gladding, a Queenstown Lakes District councillor, said the community was gutted, frustrated, angry, sad and exhausted.
So many people in the town were first responders and “it is simply call-out after call-out”, she said.
It was a dangerous lakefront, but two drownings in a week in the same spot was a new level of tragedy, she said.
The flow of the river and a sudden drop-off made it more dangerous. People were also experiencing a strong undertow, which she hadn’t heard of before.
The only sign was one at the end of a wharf, but there were none regarding the “comparatively new” hazard.
Both locals and tourists swam at the spot.
“It’s sizzling, it is inviting, there may be shallow water, however whenever you get to the top of the shallow, it goes straight down.”
Locals were patrolling to warn people – they’d already warned a couple of fishermen on Friday morning, she said.
“My coronary heart goes out to the households and mates of the 2 males who’ve drowned in circumstances the place they had been appearing to save lots of a life. It was very courageous.”
A public meeting was held on Friday afternoon where members of the community questioned if more could have been done to prevent the second death.
Glenorchy Community Association chairman John Glover said the community was “to some extent beating themselves up”.
“Should we’ve got carried out extra? Put indicators up final week? Should we’ve got waited for the council to do it?”
About 20 people attended the meeting and more were expected at another meeting on Friday night.
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Glover said they were trying to understand what had happened, what had changed with the river and what needed to be done to keep people safe.
“Obviously there’s an enormous loss to the households involved. We have misplaced members of our personal group within the rivers and lake up to now so it brings it dwelling very strongly.”
After the meetings the association would come up with an action plan regarding signage, establishing which government organisations had responsibility for the area’s waterways and better understanding the changes in the river.
“We want to grasp what’s induced this specific hazard once we’ve had many a long time of having fun with the Rees and having the ability to swim within the shallows.”
In the North Island, a person died and another remains missing following a rescue involving a group of swimmers north of Whangamatā on Wednesday.
