Police say the search for a 16-year-old boy who was swept away at 90 Mile Beach yesterday has failed to find anything.
The teenager, who has not been named, went missing while swimming with others at Hukatere.
Duncan Hall of the Police Northern Communications Centre said emergency services were alerted at 5pm yesterday.
He said within half an hour crew on board the rescue helicopter spotted something, but with the waves coming in that object disappeared from sight and was not seen again.
Mr Hall said the object was not confirmed as a body.
He said the police search, which was now a body recovery operation, would continue until dark.