The scene is about 500m from the falls and near a car park.

A dive squad is set to join the search for a man who went missing in a Bay of Plenty lake while trying to rescue a friend.

Emergency services were called to McLaren Falls, near Tauranga, on Monday afternoon, after a person fell from a rope swing into the lake, SunLive reported.

One man was swinging on a rope swing when the rope snapped, a spokesman for the Trustpower TECT Rescue Helicopter said.

SunLive Police were called to the scene where two people had gotten into trouble while swimming.

"He fell into the lake, his friend jumped in to help and both men got into difficulties."

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Tauranga police later confirmed one person had drowned and a second person who dived in to help was missing.

Police recovered a body from the lake on Monday evening.

They continued searching late into Monday night for the second man, with the help of a rescue helicopter and a boat using sonar on board.

Police planned to continue the search with a dive team on Tuesday morning.