'Chocolate milk' coloured water makes search for man in West Coast river difficult

Tuesday, 21 May 2019

Search parties look for a missing man after a jet boat crash on Friday.

'Chocolate milk' coloured water is hampering efforts to find a missing man after a jet boat crash in a West Coast river.

Daniel McLellan-Skeggs, 29, was swept away after a jet boat crash on the Taramakau River, south of Greymouth, on Friday afternoon.

Matt Rogatski, left, and Heath Bagnell helped rescue one man from the Taramakau River following a jet boat crash on Friday afternoon, but were unable to save a second.

His companion was found, but emergency services are still searching for McLellan-Skeggs, four days after the crash.

A police spokeswoman said officers were using a jet boat from a local club to search the river on Tuesday.

* Police dive squad to take over search for missing jet boater on West Coast

* Helicopter pilot tried in vain to save man washed away after West Coast jet boat crash**

The search stopped on Monday afternoon after conditions worsened.

If nothing was found on Tuesday they would not continue on Wednesday, as rain was forecast, the spokeswoman said.

'The water is normally crystal clear, but at the moment, it's like chocolate milk,' she said.

The dive squad had been stood down 'for now'.

Police wanted to thank the 'entire community' for their help during the search.

LandSAR was also searching the coastline.

McLellan-Skeggs' partner wrote on Facebook on Sunday she hoped his body would be found so his family and friends could farewell him properly.

'We have to find you, we have to bring you home to your family and friends.'

Ahaura Helicopter pilot Heath Bagnall and crewman Matt Rogatski saved one of the men, but couldn't save McLellan-Skeggs.

'[The jet boaters] went past me upstream,' Rogatski said. 'I heard the engine stop and then the third guy ran to his ute and grabbed a rope out of it. At that point I saw the two guys bobbing down the river calling for help.'

They saw one of the men trying to push himself out of the water. The men were in the water for about 20 minutes by the time they reached them, he said.

'I tried to grab [the man in the water] and missed his head by three inches,' Rogatski said.

'I tried to get my feet under his armpits but he had no strength to grab my legs and just slipped through.'

The area was about 7 kilometres from the mouth of the river. LandSAR, Coastguard and Kotuku lifesaving members searched the river on Saturday, while a police dive squad joined the search on Sunday.