Police are confident they know the identities of the two bodies found in the car that crashed into Wanganui River on the South Island's West coast.

They recovered a Toyota Corolla this morning about 50 meters down stream from the crash site - a crane was used to pull it out.

The car plunged off a bridge into the swollen river on Tuesday.

Police won't reveal the names of the victims until the next of kin are notified a serious crash investigation's underway.