The body of a high school student, who was missing in New Zealandafter being dragged by the waters into a cave during a school trip, the police announced today.

“Our thoughts go out (to his family) at this tragic time,” said a police official in the North Island region in northern New Zealand.

Police and fire search and rescue teams were yesterday involved in efforts to locate the student at Abbey Caves, a cave north of Auckland, where a group of schoolchildren on a field trip were found in a “difficult condition”, police said.

The student’s body was found last night after a day-long search, he explained.

“This is every parent’s worst nightmare to send their child to school in the morning and not see them return home safe and sound in the afternoon,” said Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, according to The New Zealand Herald newspaper.

Abbey Caves is located about five kilometers from the city of Whangarei and includes three caves that are “prone to flash flooding” according to the council’s website.

The crash occurred as torrential rains lashed New Zealand’s upper North Island, causing flooding and the closure of schools and roads.

Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, remains under a state of emergency, although Auckland Emergency Management official Rachel Kelleher told reporters today that most roads are now open and transport is running.

Teams from the municipalities will go out into the streets today to assess the damage that may have been caused to buildings, he added.