Amy Staunton has been remembered as a "beautiful" and "caring" soul days after the 17-year-old drowned after falling off a houseboat in South Australia.

A desperate search was sparked for Ms Staunton after she fell overboard into the Murray River and failed to resurface on New Year's Eve.

Police recovered her body south of Swan Reach, near to where she fell in the following afternoon.

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Ms Staunton's sister Emily posted a tribute to the talented horse rider.

"My beautiful little sister left this world and became an angel," she wrote.

"Our world has been turned upside down and I refuse to believe this is real.

"We will never stop loving you Amy. ️Forever young baby girl."

Ms Staunton's mentor and work manager Heather Currie, owner of Danson Dressage based in Birdwood, said she was caring teen who loved looking after horses.

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"Amy's daily smiling face, her energy and enthusiasm her potential her love and care for the horses will be deeply missed by everyone here at Danson Dressage," she wrote on Facebook.

"We lost an angel".

Ms Staunton's death is just one in a spate of drownings over the holiday period.

At least eight people have Died in Australia in the first couple of days in 2022.

A father died in Queensland yesterday after jumping into a waterfall to save his son who fell into the torrent.

A man also died after a rock fishing accident near Wollongong, south of Sydney yesterday.

The body of a 15-year-old boy was also been recovered in the Shoalhaven River west of Nowra, New South Wales, after he went missing on New Year's Eve.

A seven-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man have died in two separate suspected drowning incidents across Victoria.