Body of man found in river following road crash

The body of a man has been located in the Manawatu River following a road crash this morning.

Approximately 7.35am witnesses reported that a Subaru car travelling towards Woodville through the Manawatu Gorge had veered to the left crashing through the Armco barrier and falling about 20 metres into the river below. The witnesses, two men from different vehicles, scrambled down the bank to try to assist but the car was completely submerged.

A search a rescue team initially tried to reach the vehicle using a boat, and also searched the river bank in case anyone had been thrown from the vehicle. They could not reach the vehicle and found nothing on the bank. This afternoon police divers from Wellington joined the operation. They located the submerged car in about 20ft of water and established that no-one appeared to be in the vehicle.

The vehicle has now been recovered. Shortly before 6pm the divers located the body of a man approximately 20 metres downstream from the car.

The vehicle is registered to the Wellington area and enquiries are now ongoing to establish the identity of the dead man. Police are not looking for anyone else.

The man will not be named until his identity has been confirmed and next of kin have been informed.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

There will be no further update today.