At approximately 5.45pm this evening (Wednesday, 26 November) Rotorua Police were advised of a group in distress after they got into difficulty on Lake Rotorua.
Police received a number of calls from concerned Ngongotaha residents reporting what appeared to be a boat in trouble.
A local resident responded to the emergency by going out in his own vessel to effect a rescue. He discovered that a group of five men had ended up in the water after their boat had been swamped and sunk.
The local resident successfully rescued four of the five, but the remaining man could not be located.
After Police had been called Coastguard were deployed and two Coastguard boats spent the remaining daylight hours searching the area where the missing man was last seen.
The others were all taken to Rotorua Hospital by ambulance and treated for hypothermia.
The search for the missing man has been suspended for the night and will resume tomorrow morning.
There will be no further comment this evening; a further update on the search will be provided in the tomorrow.