A person has died after being located unresponsive in the water off Moturiki at Mount Maunganui on Saturday afternoon.

Police say that emergency services responded to the incident at Mount Maunganui beach at 1.50pm.

"First aid was provided to the person at the scene however sadly they were unable to be revived," says a Police spokesperson.

The Aerocool Rescue Helicopter joined other emergency services including police, ambulance and the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service at Mount Main Beach.

Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Services chair Jamie Troughton says the person got into difficulty in the water around Moturiki, and that 'within minutes” they launched their inflatable rescue boat, and that the person was ashore ten minutes later.

'Despite the resuscitation efforts, the person couldn't be saved.”

Jamie says the water conditions were 'tricky” due to strong currents in the wake of storms on Friday.

He also says younger life guard staff were being consoled by older staffers.

'This is not the way they wanted to start their summer patrol,” says Jamie.

Police had earlier confirmed they, and lifeguard services, were responding to a 'water related incident” off Moturiki

At the scene?

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