Body of young man found after he drowned trying to save boy at Central Otago lake

The body of a young man who disappeared trying to save a boy from drowning has been located in Lake Wakatipu.

It is understood he was visiting from Australia with his fiancée. His parents and brother joined her in Glenorchy, near Queenstown, on Friday.

A search began about 4pm on Thursday after emergency services were notified of a person in trouble in the water. The police national dive squad arrived about 1pm on Friday and were searching about 50m from the shore.

Signs warning people of the danger of swimming in the Central Otago lake were installed on Friday. The Queenstown Lakes District Council ordered the signs following the death of Wānaka man Linkin Kisling, who died on Friday last week saving his 10-year-old son in Lake Wakatipu at the mouth of the Rees River at Glenorchy.

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The body had yet to be recovered at 3pm on Friday, however it was found close to where Kisling’s body was found last week.

A council spokesperson said learning a second person drowned at the head of the lake so soon after the first tragedy was “truly devastating”.

“Our thoughts are first and foremost with the person’s friends and whānau, as well as the Glenorchy community who will naturally share a sense of sadness, 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 no single authority responsible for the choice people make to enter a body of water. However, the steps we are taking to ensure nothing like this happens again is a logical and practical way that council can help at this incredibly sad time.”

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’s just call-out after call-out”, she said.

It was 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 “relatively new” hazard.

Both locals and tourists swam at the spot.

“It’s hot, it’s inviting, there is shallow water, but when you get to the end 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.

More signs were expected to go up and a community meeting was planned on Friday.

“My heart goes out to the families and friends of the two men who have drowned in circumstances where they were acting to save a life. It was very brave.”

Police said they were providing support to the family of the missing person.

In the North Island, a person died and another remains missing following a rescue involving a group of swimmers north of Whangamatā on Wednesday.

New Zealand had its worst annual drowning rate in a decade in 2022, with provisional statistics from Water Safety New Zealand showing 91 preventable drownings for the year.