The police dive squad is searching in Wellington’s harbour for a person who jumped from a crane into the water. 

A police spokesperson told the Herald they were alerted to the incident at 12.45pm at the Hikitia Floating Crane, which is permanently moored in Wellington’s Harbour. 

One witness told the Herald he saw “a guy” climbing the crane. 

“He went way up to the top - I just saw a little glimpse, but I saw the woman next to it was just crazy. She was desperate, it was sad to see that.” 

The police dive squad is searching the Wellington Harbour for a person who failed to surface after jumping from the crane. 

The Hikitia is close to the Taranaki Street Dive Platform where the Z World Manu Champs are scheduled to take place this weekend. 

Scott Rice, the organiser for the Manu World Champs told the Herald the incident occurred outside the area where the competition is scheduled to be held tomorrow. 

“This is a very tragic event and right now, our thoughts are with those who are affected. We are waiting to hear more.” 

Wellington Free Ambulance also attended the incident but referred the Herald to police for any further information. 

Police search the Wellington Harbour after a person failed to surface after jumping from a crane. 

In 2015, security concerns around the antique crane were raised after a 20-year-old man died jumping from it after a night out. 

A week before his death, another person had been filmed jumping from the crane and the video had gone viral, sparking police to warn about the dangers of it. 

Maritime Heritage Trust of Wellington owns the crane. It discussed various possible security measures after the video went viral but little was done. 

“We considered possible ways we could contain any copycat [behaviour],” trustee Malcolm McGregor said at the time. 

“Fences would be pushed over. We’ve been talking about possibilities since that thing went viral last week and we thought of all kind of mad, crazy ideas. Whatever we think of, it comes down to if somebody’s determined they will get on board and do it.” 

- More to come