The hunt for a 9-year-old girl who has been missing for more than 12 hours after being swept away in a West Coast river will continue through the night, police say.
The girl and a man in his 80s got into difficulty and fell in the water near the Hokitika river mouth on Thursday morning.
Emergency services were called at 9.45am. The man was pulled from the water by a member of the public but the girl remains missing.
A police spokeswoman said police Search and Rescue (SAR), Coastguard, LandSAR, Maritime NZ, local surf rescue and a helicopter crew would continue the search throughout the night until they had found the girl.
Senior Sergeant Brent Cook said the pair were whitebaiting at the Hokitika river mouth.
"They got into trouble and a member of the public was able to retrieve the gentleman but the girl went further out and is still missing."
They were not wearing lifejackets, he said.
Conditions were rough, with swift currents going north.
St John spokesman Gerard Campbell said two people were assessed by paramedics but did not require treatment. Ambulances left the scene by 11.30am.
A rescue helicopter crew searched the beach while Coastguard members searched the water.
Senior Sergeant Mark Rowbottom said rescue efforts had to be abandoned due to rough seas.
"We had real issues getting the RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) out it was quite rough. The weather, wind and tide have all had an impact on what we can do.
"We will continue with the land search into the evening and [on Friday] if necessary. As time goes on the search area will continually expand," he said.
He said the missing girl was not from Hokitika and police were liaising with the family.
He urged anyone doing activities near water to wear life jackets and wetsuits to increase the chances of being rescued if something went wrong.
Garden City Helicopters general manager Simon Duncan said a rescue helicopter was stood down by police about 11.30am, but a commercial helicopter began searching about 12.30pm.
Two people in the rescue team had to swim to shore after the inflatable boat they were in flipped over in the rough conditions.
Hokitika woman Kim Mahuika was at the scene. Her husband, Kerry Apperley, drowned at the Hokitika river mouth three years ago.
Her 18-year-old son, Aidan, was rescued.
She heard the rescue helicopter and came down to Sunset Point. The incident brought back painful memories, she said.
"I was at the supermarket and heard the chopper so I came down. It's heartbreaking. It's been three years and I still don't know why the gates were locked and it took emergency services so long to get here," she said.
Apperley had been on an inflatable boat, like the ones being used to search for the missing girl.
Mark Bolland, of Greymouth Surf Lifesaving, said two boat teams, each with three people, travelled to Hokitika to help search for the girl.
A Surf Life Saving New Zealand spokeswoman said volunteer lifeguards from the Kotuku Surf Life Saving Club responded with an inflatable life boat.
There was a swell of 4 metres with 20-knot westerly winds on shore on Thursday morning.
