Police say alcohol appears to have been a contributing factor in the crashing of two cars racing on Ngaruawahia streets early this morning.

Acting Senior Sergeant Dale Smith says emergency services were called to Great South Road in Ngaruawahia shortly after 2am to find three people on the Waikato River bank.

Speed, alcohol and poor decisions lead to a crash early this morning, say police.

'Initial reports were the three occupants of a Toyota Altezza car were unaccounted for after the car had hit a bank and crashed into the Waikato River,” he explains.

'Fortunately, before responding Police and Fire rescue boats arrived, the 19-year-old male driver and his 17 and 31-year-old male passengers managed to make their way ashore.”

Dale says inquiries into what had occurred revealed the driver of the Altezza had been racing a Ford Falcon utility.

'It appears the utility failed to negotiate a corner and crashed through a fence,” he says. 'The Altezza managed to take the corner but crashed into a bank, bounced over another and crashed into the river.

'Both drivers were breathalysed with the driver of the Altezza returning a result of 486mcgs and the 22-year-old driver of the utility returning a result of over 600mcgs. The passengers in the car and a passenger in the utility were all unhurt in the crashes.”

Police are still assessing what, if any, further charges may result from this morning's incident.

Dale adds: 'The car in the river remains submerged 2-3 metres below the surface.

'In the end, poor decision making, speed and alcohol all appear to have been contributing factors in what so easily could have ended up as a tragedy.”