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A man has described hearing “horrible” screams on the shore of Lake Taupō last night, at the same spot where a member of the public found two bodies this morning.
The bodies were located a short distance from the city center near Mere Road, and police have not yet confirmed the identity of the people or the cause of death.
The local man, who did not want to be identified, had been in the same place to swim the night before with his wife and a friend, until 7:30 p.m.
He recalled that three other people were there when he headed to a nearby motel to go to a spa.
Screaming prompted him to run back.
“It was an awful noise.
“Like a … deep whine. ‘Come on,’ I said, ‘let’s go to the car.’ Because, you know, it was like someone was getting hurt. So we drove there. But while we were driving and turning to get to where they were We saw that the police had just left. So we thought, luckily, they must have fixed it. “
The man recalled seeing a person swimming, a person on the shore and a third person drinking in the parking lot near a black pickup, which was still on the scene today.
He couldn’t understand what caused the screaming, but he thought it unusual that someone was still swimming when the temperature had dropped to about six degrees.
He says he felt sick and sore in his stomach when he read about the bodies discovered this morning.
The man says that the lakefront area is a popular swimming spot, appreciated by locals for its geothermal properties.
“He’s been around since he was a kid and he changes his landscape every year just with the different weather, with the lake falling because it doesn’t rain, and stuff …
“With the geothermal action in the lake … you can actually put your feet in the sand and the water heats up.”
It is unclear whether the two bodies were pulled out of the water or located on the shore, but emergency services were called at 7 a.m. and a police forensic tent was set up shortly thereafter near the water.
That caught the attention of locals like Baycrest Lodge owner Barry Searle.
“I walked around and saw, without a doubt, a lot of police activity and coverage of what appear to be a couple of bodies in the pools. There is a tent that covers the pools and the scene guard and several cars,” he says. .
Taupō Mayor David Trewavas says there has been a surge of visitors to the city in recent weeks.
He praised the citizen who found the bodies and called the emergency services, although “unfortunately it was too late.”
Trewavas says the city had woken up to a beautiful day on the central plateau, but with “tragic circumstances for the families involved.”
“The lake is pristine and the mountains are full of snow. What a beautiful day for this to unfold. This is very, very tragic.”
Police officers at the scene confirmed that they had removed the bodies this afternoon.
In a statement, a spokesman said they were continuing to make inquiries and await post-mortem examinations to determine the cause of the deaths.
Police declined to be interviewed for this story.
RNZ.
