The body of a 10-year-old boy who drowned in Naitasiri on Thursday has been recovered after an extensive police search.
The boy, who lives in Kalabu, was visiting Gusuisavu Village in Naitasiri for the school holidays.
He had accompanied a group of friends to swim in the Waidina River when he drowned.
Police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro said the boy's body was recovered at 10.45am yesterday from the Waidina River.
"A search was conducted yesterday and police were able to recover the boy's body after searches along the river," she said.
She said police were deeply concerned with the high numbers of drowning for this year.
"32 people have drowned this year compared to 17 for the same period last year and this increase is very worrying."
She said police were calling for all members of the public to exercise caution when in and around water. "Especially for children, they need to be supervised at all times to ensure tragedies like this do not occur.
"School is just about to start again and all precautions must be taken to ensure there are no more drowning casualties among children," said Ms Naisoro.