Abbey Caves: Body located in search

Please attribute to Superintendent Tony Hill, Northland District Commander:

Searchers working to locate a student missing in Abbey Caves, Whangārei have recovered a body.

The search was expected to conclude around 5pm yesterday, however, specialist equipment that was brought up from Auckland allowed the search to continue for longer.

This helped enable searchers to locate a body, which was successfully recovered late yesterday evening.

As such, the search has now concluded.

While formal ID of the body is yet to take place, Police are ensuring the family is being offered support, and our thoughts remain with them at this tragic time.

Some cordons will remain in place around the caves area while Police continue to conduct a routine scene examination.

We acknowledge this event has been very distressing for the school and wider community, and that there are a number of questions the public will have.

At the moment, Police's focus is on supporting those affected, and we remind people to please not make assumptions as to what has occurred.