The bodies of Anton Oskar Woitasek, 34, and Lawrence Brett Singleton, 51, were recovered from the river by police divers at about 10am, just metres from where the accident happened last night, according to police.
Police and Maritime NZ staff are in the process of recovering both the jet ski and the jet boat. Both vessels are extensively damaged.
Police and spotters in a helicopter hovering along the river saw the bodies when the cloud cover cleared momentarily to sun and gave good visibility into the clear, blue waters of the Kawarau River.
"You could see in the bright light,'' a spotter said.
"You don't want that rippled on the water.''
The bodies were spotted in the river just beyond the willows lining the river bank and out into the river in an area searched extensively by police and emergency services personnel last night.
It was an area just downstream of the collision between the jet boat and jet ski at about 7.30pm last night.
Family of the deceased visited the site this morning while police maintained a road block to Boyd road to prevent public access.
The two riders of the jet ski remain in Dunedin Hospital. A female aged 19 years is in a critical condition and a male aged 21 years is in a serious condition.
A joint investigation between Police and Maritime NZ investigators continues.
