The bodies of four young men and the vehicle they were travelling in have been recovered from Muriwai Beach by Police and other emergency services.
Inspector Mark Fergus of Waitemata Police says the proces of locating and informing the deceaseds' next of kin will get underway as soon as possible but the identities of those who died on the beach this evening can not be released tonight.
"We've got a lot of work to do to try and locate the families of these four young men. We've recovered as much as we can from the beach but the tide is well in now and we're unable to do anything more at the crash scene."
He said initial witness accounts of a 12 year-old boy being critically injured were incorrect.
Police do not intend to distribute any further information tonight.
ENDS
Issued by Noreen Hegarty/Auckland City District communications manager