drowning

A teenager was forced to leave his father in the water and swim for his life after a huge wave sunk their boat on the Tauranga Harbour last night.

With five drowning deaths in June, this year's drowning toll keeps outpacing 2010.

The national drowning toll for the first two months of the year rose to 35, after 15 drownings in February.

Police have released the name of a 22-year-old man who died while boogie boarding at a Bay of Plenty beach at the weekend.

Police have named a man who drowned after being caught in a rip at Papamoa beach, south of Mt Maunganui, yesterday.

Eleven people drowned in New Zealand last month, with 20 in the first two months of the year - a significant decrease over last year's figure of 32.