The last image has emerged of a woman who drowned when the floodgates opened on the Waikato River.
The photo was taken by two tourists who watched helplessly as a group of swimmers desperately tried to escape the wall of water.
German tourists Kevin Kiau and his partner Katrin Taylor watched from a viewing platform as the dam floodgates opened.
Four swimmers were caught in the rapidly rising water, and three of them made it to safety. The fourth - 21-year-old Rachael De Jong - was swept away and drowned.
The tourists were visiting the river north of Taupo on Waitangi Day.
They heard warning sirens activate and watched the waters rise.
When the water rose, they noticed four people standing in the rapids, Ms Taylor told Fairfax. There was a fifth person on a larger rock nearby.
She said that the group tried to jump on to the bigger rock from a submerged rock they were standing on. A man was on the large rock, and he helped the first two girls jump across.
When the third girl jumped across, the man tried to help her and both were swept away, the tourists said.
They couldn't see what happened to the fourth woman because the rock obscured their view, but they saw she disappeared without making it to the rock.
"There was still one girl left in the middle of the river. I'm not sure if she tried to jump, or the water was already too high, but she was gone pretty quick without making it to the safer rock, to the larger one."
The tourists said they only found out the following night that someone had died in the incident.
"We could just stand there and watch helplessly and it was horrible," Ms Taylor said.
The victim was described by her brother as a "best friend and most perfect sister".
The Aratiatia Dam floodgates are opened several times a day during summer at 10am, midday, 2pm and 4pm. Sirens activate prior to the floodgates opening and signs warn people of the danger.
Sergeant Shane McNally said when they opened, the water rose rapidly and the four friends were swept away.
Newshub.
