To be attributed to Senior Sergeant Mary Van Dongen, Waikato West Area Response Manager:
A search for Dilane Harding, 55, a missing fisherman in Taharoa is continuing this week.
Dilane was reported missing at around 7pm on Thursday 18 June after he failed to return home from fishing off Paparoa Rock on the west coast of Taharoa earlier in the morning.
We’d like to thank all those involved in the search operation to date, including Land Search and Rescue and Auckland Coastguard Air Patrol.
We will continue to utilise every available search asset over the coming days, however with another storm forecast for the region, further aerial searching is likely to be paused until at least Friday.
A rāhui has been put in place, which follows the coastline and extends approximately three kilometres offshore. While the rāhui remains in place, seafood gathering, fishing, swimming and similar activities are prohibited in the area.
For safety reasons, we continue to ask that the public do not engage in any search activities themselves. However if anyone has information which could assist the search teams, we ask that they contact Police and quote file number 260619/4179.
