All four men who died when their four wheel drive rolled on Muriwai beach yesterday were thrown from the vehicle in the crash.
Emergency services at Muriwai beach. Photo: Richard Pamatatau
Waitemata Police are asking for any witnesses to contact them.
The four men who died were aged 31, 31, 27 and 26.
They have still not been named, as police said they had relatives overseas who had not yet been informed.
Police have spoken to some witnesses but would like to hear from anyone else who saw the brown and silver-coloured 2001 Mitsubishi Pajero on the beach yesterday afternoon.
"Based on witness information, we believe the car was travelling at speed along the water's edge. It's either struck an object or has hit sand. The vehicle has then flipped and rolled several times."
All four were thrown from the vehicle and Waitemata Police road policing manager Inspector Trevor Beggs said this suggested they may not have been wearing seatbelts, "but this will be confirmed once the car has been examined".
The 4x4 was towed from the water by a tractor last night and taken to a secure facility, where the Waitemata Police Serious Crash Unit will spend much of today examining the vehicle.
Mr Beggs said last night's emergency response was a "challenging and upsetting" situation for everyone involved.
It is the latest in a series of crashes on the beach that prompted the police to launch a campaign, earlier this year, encouraging people to take more care.
Four people died in the crash. Photo: Richard Pamatatau
Inspector Mark Fergus said emergency services at the scene of yesterday's crash had to work quickly against the tide to recover the deceased, and the vehicle.
"At this time, I'm not prepared to speculate on the cause," said Mr Fergus. "But what I do know, as we're approaching summer, is that driving on any beach is a dangerous exercise and brings with it certain risks. It's important that people keep their speed down when driving on the beach, of course, conditions can change at any time."
Muriwai Beach is an unbroken stretch of black sand that draws crowds of people and vehicles.
Yesterday's crash happened about 5 kilometres north of a popular access point, at the south end of Woodhill Forest.
Three people died in a crash on the beach in 2004, and another crash in 2007 killed one person. Two crashes earlier this year caused serious injuries.
Concerns over unsafe driving led police in May to run a special operation, patrolling the beach to make sure people were aware of the rules, including a 60 km/h speed limit.
'Unforgiving'
Bryn Collins has lived in Muriwai all his life and wants the beach to remain open to vehicles, but said the beach could be unforgiving if drivers did not know what they were doing.
"It's a little bit natural to, you know, cut loose and have a little bit of fun, which is fine but, you just, you really do have to watch yourself out there.
"Going along there, and not until you're 10 or 15 metres away do you see a log protruding out of the sand. You've got to, you know, have your wits about you."
Muriwai Environmental Action Community Trust chair Gerry Henley said the beach had been getting busier over the years.
"It used to be that just the locals would go up there to do a spot of fishing but now it seems that so many people have four-wheel drive vehicles, and they probably drive around the city all day and then they come out here at the weekend or every so often and drive in totally unfamiliar circumstances."
Phelan Pirrie is a member of the Rodney Local Board and also one of the volunteer firefighters who attended yesterday's crash.
He said the Auckland Council had already taken steps to try to make the beach safer, without closing it to vehicles.
"Council officers decided that one of the ways to perhaps address the safety issues on the beach, not ban people from using the beach, but to try and educate people, was to put a permit system in place.
"That's sort of started now, it'll be launched in October, it'll be a trial for a year and we'll have to see at the end of that, whether that modifies behaviour or not."
Police said they were still identifying the four men killed yesterday and did not expect to name them until this afternoon at the earliest.