Deaths fail to deter clients of centre

Students who visit the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre cover a range of outdoor activities including kayaking.

The Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre has reluctantly opened for business again and this week's tragedy has not deterred other groups from attending courses there.

Three groups are booked to start tomorrow, the first of which is expected to arrive tonight.

The visitors include school students, a team from the Waiouru army base and a private group.

None of them have taken the option of cancelling.

A centre spokeswoman said allowing the courses to continue also helped staff.

"A lot of them are finding it hard doing nothing and they just wantto move on and focus on theirwork."

As they do that, the investigation into what happened will continue. A Department of Labour investigator was at the centre speaking with staff yesterday. An internal investigation, the result of which will be madepublic, is also under way.

The centre spokeswoman said a rahui (ban) remained in place on the river. It would be up to the groups starting the course tomorrow to decide what challenges they wished to participate in. If they wanted to go into the water, there were other rivers and lakes nearby.

Support continued to pour in for staff of the centre yesterday.

There was also an emotional meeting between them and the parents of the students who died in the Mangatepopo tragedy.

Elim College board of trustees chairman Dani Vermeulen said five Sir Edmund Hillary staff turned up unannounced yesterday morning and spoke at the school's regular assembly.

He understood the centre's chairman, Grant MacKenzie, was in the group, with four instructors.

He did not know if they included the instructor who had been on the river outing.

One staff member, John Maxted, addressed the students, talking to them about the river.

Mr Vermeulen said that after the assembly, the centre's staff had a private meeting with the parents of those who had died.

There were no issues or ill-will towards the staff and the parents had welcomed them.

Earlier this week, the parents of Tony McClean, the teacher killed, went to the outdoor pursuits centre and met Jodie Sullivan, the instructor who had taken the group on the river.

"In the morning she was absolutely distraught," father John McClean told the Herald on Thursday. "We just hugged her and bawled our eyes out for about 15 minutes."

FIRST FUNERAL TO BE HELD TODAY

Floyd Fernandes, 16, one of the seven to die in the Mangatepopo River tragedy, will be the first of the group laid to rest, today at 11am.

The service will be held at the Elim Christian Centre in Howick. The other funerals will follow throughout the week.

On Monday, Portia McPhail's funeral will be held at 9am, Tom Hsu's at 10.30am and Natasha Bray's at 1pm.

On Tuesday, Anthony Mulder will be farewelled at 10.30am and teacher Tony McClean at 2pm.

Tara Gregory will be farewelled at 10.30am on Wednesday.

All of the services will be held at the Elim Christian Centre except for Tara Gregory's, which will be at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Otahuhu, and Tom Hsu's, which will be at the Howick Baptist Church.

- NZPA