Please attribute to Sergeant Anthony Harmer:
At approximately 10:30pm last night Police received a report that a man had gone missing while swimming in the Hutt River, near Belmont School.
It’s understood that two men, both 19-years-old, went swimming in what was a very flooded and swollen river and when one got out of the water, he could no longer locate his friend.
Last night the bad weather made searching for the man difficult, it wasn’t possible to send up the Westpac Rescue Helicopter but the Fire service assisted Police in searching the riverbank using thermal imaging hardware.
LandSAR teams have just begun searching in the area where the man went missing and the Maritime Police are searching the harbour and river mouth area.
The Police Dive Squad is on standby but due to river conditions is unable to be deployed currently.
We will provide updates as they come to hand.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre