The tightknit community of Raglan is mourning the loss of one of their favourite sons.
Richard Keremeta, a year 13 student at Raglan Area School, died after jumping off a bridge and being struck by another jumper while still under water.
The boy who accidentally hit him has now been found.
No one was jumping off the Raglan foot bridge today; instead friends of the teenager who drowned here yesterday came to grieve.
"He was just so nice," says one friend. "He always had a smile on his face, so energetic. He was always like that. Everyone loved him."
The 16-year-old is being remembered as a true character -- a live wire who everyone loved.
He had been jumping into the estuary all his life.
"He's careful," says another friend. "He knows what he's doing. But for something like this to happen in the water, to him..."
He was one of dozens jumping, but a bit of summer fun went horribly wrong when he was struck by another jumper, submerging him.
There was serious concern for the teenager who jumped after him, as he disappeared straight away before he could be identified. But today police said the 17-year-old had come forward and they spoke to him this afternoon.
"Our young people are saying they don't know who this was," says Raglan Area School principal Malcolm Cox. "That's a young man that needs some care, needs some support. And at the moment we don't know if he's getting that."
Mr Cox says the number of people jumping from the bridge has quadrupled in recent years, making it more dangerous.
"People come to Raglan and it's what you do to say you've come to Raglan -- you've jumped off the bridge," says Mr Cox.
The council doesn't endorse it, but won't ban it either.
But most locals are convinced it's such a way of life here that people will keep jumping no matter what restrictions are put in place.
"For our own kids it will possibly add poignancy to it, but I don't think it'll be a barrier," says Mr Cox.
Richard's friends agree, and say they'll be back the next sunny day, jumping as a tribute.
Newshub.
