Image: Seven News

Police divers have retrieved six bodies from a seaplane that crashed into Cowan Creek on the Hawkesbury.

The pilot and five others were returning to Rose Bay after a New Year’s Eve lunch at Cottage Point Inn when the DHC-2 Beaver went down.

Police have confirmed all those on board, excluding the pilot who was an Australia, were visitors from the United Kingdom.

Of those on board were an 11-year-old girl and her mother, along with her fiancé and his two sons.

The wreckage was found 13 metres below the surface and is still submerged below water.

The site was protected by police guard overnight as air crash investigators were called to the scene to work out why the aircraft ploughed into the river.

Debris found floating in the river. Image: Seven News

Officials from the British consulate are in touch with local authorities amid reports four of the victims were from Britain.

Sydney Seaplanes has suspended its operations saying the company is deeply shocked by the incident at Jerusalem Bay and doesn’t yet know the cause.