Elim principal Murray Burton has endured tragedy before when he lost six of his own students and a teacher in the Mangatepopo river, now he has reached out to Whangārei High School following Tuesday's disaster. Video / NZ Herald
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has spoken about the “tragic death” of a student on a school trip at Abbey Caves in Whangārei yesterday.
“I think it is every parent’s worst possible nightmare to send your child off to school in the morning and not have them returned safely home in the evening,” Hipkins said.
“So I want to on behalf of the whole country send our love and support to the family who are dealing with the tragic loss.”
Hipkins said he has been advised the Ministry of Education has a team supporting the Whangārei Boys’ High School community, and the coroner and WorkSafe are now investigating.
“So it wouldn’t be appropriate to make further comments on what did and didn’t happen,” he said.
“But I just want to take the moment to acknowledge that what has happened there it is a tragedy. An awful thing for the family to be experiencing. I’m sure we will all be sending our love and sympathy to them.”
Hipkins said there would be “multiple investigations”, including from the Ministry of Education, and expected these to result in areas where policy changes were required.
“Then I’m absolutely confident there’ll be action. I think I think it’s important that that that’s done as independently as possible.”
Hipkins said he believed there had been changes in recent decades over how schools approached outdoor education.
“A lot of the more risky practices that we used to see have been removed.
“In many cases, things that schools used to do on the smell of an oily rag, they’re now actually bringing in outside experts to do whereas it used to rely on teacher goodwill. But I think we are constantly needing to look at how that can continue to improve.”
Emergency services at Abbey Caves in Whangārei, where a student died. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Earlier, the whānau of the Year 11 student who died have thanked the emergency services and search and rescue teams involved in bringing their boy home.
The boy disappeared after he and 14 of his classmates, accompanied by two teachers, got into difficulty on an outdoor education trip at Abbey Caves.
Search and rescue teams recovered the missing student’s body last night.
“Your tireless efforts and aroha will be with us forever.”
Flowers left at the entrance to Abbey Caves in Whangarei after the death of a student from Whangarei Boys High School. Photo / Michael Craig May 10 2023
WorkSafe confirmed this morning an investigation has begun, but cannot comment further while the investigation is under way.
A Givealittle page has been set up to support the student’s whānau.
One of the high school students has described the moment he saw his classmate being swept away by floodwaters.
The boy’s mother told Stuff that her son feared for his life as the water rose from waist to neck height in minutes.
“He twice thought he was going to die. He called his teacher a hero. He tried to clamber up [out of the water] and felt his strength going and the teacher gave him a push,” she told Stuff.
One boy slipped from a classmate’s grasp and was swept away in the strong current despite the efforts of two adults to save him.
The group was inside the “canyon-like” Organ Cave when floodwaters hit shortly before 10.30am as heavy rain moved through the region.
The Advocate understands that loved ones remained at the cordon well after dark.
The mother who spoke to Stuff said the school group should have never been in the caves given the weather warnings.
She said communication from the police and school was “shocking”, with police urging the students not to answer their phones after they were rescued as distressed parents tried to reach them.
“I can’t understand why this happened, but then I can’t understand why they went in the first place. You put complete trust in them with your child and you expect them to err on the side of caution.”
When she contacted the school as news of the rescue broke, the mother was told a statement would be coming via email.
“I just wanted to know if my son was alive or not. It’s worth more than a bloody email. You think they’d have the decency to phone parents, not email.”
“We need to be thinking about the other young people from the school - his friends, but also the staff as well. Everybody is really feeling for this and everyone is reeling, but the most important thing to do right now is to have care, compassion and love for those people who are affected, especially the family.”
“There will be a time for questions and those questions need to be answered, and I’m sure the school won’t shy away from participating as fully as possible, but right now, you know, we really do need to focus on just helping and supporting people.”
He said the Ministry of Education’s trauma team would be at the school today as there would be a lot of people that needed support, and that was really where the focus needed to be at present.
“There will be a lot of emotion, in particular anger as well as sadness. We’ve made the offer to be there if the school would like us to be there; they want to do things in their own way.
“It’s most important that they find their ways to recover, and I totally appreciate that they don’t want a politician there. I totally get that. But when they do want us to be there, we will be there.”
Northland District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill said police were ensuring the family members of the boy who died are being offered support.
Some cordons will remain in place around the caves area while police continue to conduct a routine scene examination.
Hill said police would not speculate on what happened.
He said police understood that many people would be affected by the “tragic incident”.
“We acknowledge this event has been very distressing for the school and wider community, and that there are a number of questions the public will have.
“At the moment, Police focus is on supporting those affected, and we remind people to please not make assumptions as to what has occurred.”
A public outcry blasted the school for allowing the trip to go ahead despite the region being under an orange heavy rain warning. MetService had forecast 90mm of rain yesterday.
Parents posted online criticising the school’s “absolutely insane” decision.
Questions about why the outing was not called off remain unanswered, and intensified after Stuff revealed students were meant to be rock climbing but the forecast downpours forced the trip underground instead.
High School principal Karen Gilbert-Smith broke her silence five hours after the student went missing. She had spent the day at the caves while rescuers worked to find the boy.
She said a “full and comprehensive” investigation would take place.
“But for now I have asked the WBHS community to stay united and provide support where required.”
Whangārei Boys' High School principal Karen Gilbert-Smith, far left, with police at Abbey Caves. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Gilbert-Smith said the current focus was on supporting whānau, staff and students involved as well as the wider school community with help from iwi and other agencies.
The Ministry of Education’s traumatic incident team is supporting the school, and family liaison officers and Victim Support have put measures in place to assist the student’s whānau.
Students from the outdoor education class were taken back to the school for further medical treatment and were reunited with their anxious parents waiting outside the main building.
Gilbert-Smith said her thoughts and aroha were with everyone concerned, “especially the whānau of the young person who is missing”.
An aunt of the missing boy yesterday called for prayers from the community to help find her “lost” nephew.
The boy’s father was seen arriving at the scene yesterday, visibly upset. Another person, thought to be whānau, embraced him in a lengthy hug.
The chairman of the school’s board, Andrew Carvell, told Stuff the school’s thoughts were with the family.
“It’s a very traumatic situation for [those] involved. We anticipate there are going to be questions. I think those questions are reasonable questions to ask.”
Whangārei Mayor Vince Cocurullo said the council was “deeply concerned” about the events at Abbey Caves.
Talking to RNZ’s Checkpoint yesterday, the mayor would not be drawn on whether it was appropriate for the school to take students to the cave when bad weather was predicted.
“That’s not something that I can really comment on. This is something the school really needs to go through and discuss with the families.”
He said the caves were not staffed.
“They are a natural wilderness area open for all to visit. To the best of our knowledge, we have not had a situation like this at the caves before.
“Whenever an event like this occurs, in any environment, multiple organisations are involved in investigations. We will be taking part to identify any areas for change. In the meantime, our thoughts go out to everyone involved.”
The Abbey Caves are prone to flash flooding, according to the Whangārei District Council website. Yesterday’s rainfall flooded the area, turning small streams into rivers.
