Emergency services have returned to the Veluwemeer lake in Flevoland to search for a missing father and his five-year-old daughter following a canoe accident on Thursday.

The first inkling that the family of four, who are from Germany, were in trouble came at 1pm on Thursday afternoon following a report of a child in the water, a spokesman for the safety region Flevoland told NU.nl.

The child, a seven-year-old girl, was found clinging to a buoy a short time later. Forty minutes later divers found the body of her mother.

Emergency services used helicopters, boats and sonar to try to locate the missing father and daughter but had to call off the search at nightfall. On Friday, special equipment will be used to explore the bottom of the lake.

It is not known what caused the canoe to capsize. The family were not wearing life jackets, a coast guard member said.