Please attribute to Senior Constable Garry Larsen, Police Maritime Unit.
Late yesterday afternoon (April 19) Police received a call from a member of the public that a 12 foot aluminium runabout was found adrift in the Manukau Harbour with no one on board.
Police, Coastguard and a hovercraft from Airport Crash Rescue conducted a search and recovered an 8-year-old girl from the water just before 7.30pm last night. It is believed the young girl was in the water for several hours.
She was taken to Middlemore hospital and released this morning and is currently with her family.
Her 52-year-old father is still missing and the search for him is ongoing this afternoon. The father and daughter had gone out fishing together.
It is unclear as to what went wrong and Police are still working to establish the facts. At this stage it has not been confirmed whether or not they were wearing lifejackets.
Specialist child interviewers are speaking with the young girl about what has occurred. Police have appointed a Family Liaison Officer to support the family as the search for the missing man continues.
A short time ago the aluminium runabout was found and will be recovered this afternoon.
The ongoing search involves the Police Eagle helicopter and the Police Maritime Unit, Police Search and Rescue, Coastguard and the Airport Crash Fire hovercraft.
ENDS
Monique Caddy/NZ Police