NZ Police / Supply
Police said the search for a missing 26-year-old Christchurch man who did not resurface after diving into the water at Malia Falls last Friday will continue this weekend.
Police say the search for a missing Christchurch man who went missing at Malia Falls a week ago will continue over the weekend.
A 26-year-old man and a friend went for a swim at a popular stop on State Highway 65 in the Tasman district around noon last Friday.
Members of the search team realized that the pair had jumped into the water, and the surviving swimmer was lying down, but jumped in again when his friend seemed to be in trouble.
Darn Jiminck, co-owner of the New Zealand Kayak School, who went out several times in search of the missing man, said his friend was lucky enough to survive after he desperately tried to save him. I did.
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He described the water as “like a rift in the ocean, but I don’t know which direction it’s heading.”
After that, the pair was “a little in trouble” and the swimmer had to “push” out of the struggling man. The survivors then needed to be rescued by two civilians.
Extensive searches were conducted over the course of a week, including Friday police and land search and rescue volunteers, where weather conditions permit.
A police spokesperson said, “The team encountered another difficult situation where visibility was reported to be very poor.”
I used an underwater camera to search the eastern side of the river under the waterfall.
Mark EDMINSTIN
According to police, the Malia waterfall seen here was high when the man went missing after heavy rains on the west side of the South Island last July. (The video was first released in July 2021).
A second team of four swimmers and two inflatable rescue boats searched the river two kilometers downstream from the waterfall, but they said no man was found.
Earlier this week, Nelson Bayes region commander Matt Scholes said the river was very high and “very, very cold.”
The day after the man went missing, police submarines worked where Scholes described it as a “very difficult situation” and were unable to sail parts of the area due to safety concerns. ..
Police said police officers were in close contact with the missing man’s family and provided the necessary support.
“We will continue to do everything we can to find a man and bring him back to his family.”
The search will resume on Saturday.