Police yesterday found a body during the search following last week's crash into the Waioeka River.
Emergency services responded to the scene around 10:20am on October 4th after a vehicle had gone down a bank into the river, around 2.5km south of the Tauranga Bridge on State Highway 2.
Search and rescue teams, including a boat, helicopter, and Coastguard jet skis, carried out thorough sweeps of the river and its banks last Friday.
"Unfortunately, the person and vehicle were unable to be located," Senior Sergeant Richard Miller, Eastern Bay of Plenty Police says.
"Since that time Police and rescue teams have been on standby ready to respond once the river conditions were right to safely deploy a team to the area,"
Yesterday, cleared river conditions allowed Police along with search and rescue teams, local jet boat operators, and the Police National Dive Squad to search the river.
"The vehicle was located at about 12:05pm, around 400 metres from the original crash site," Miller says.
"The victim was located deceased inside the vehicle and has since been successfully recovered,"
"While located deceased, Police are pleased to have been able to reunite whānau with their loved one," Miller says.
Enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are ongoing.
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