KEY POINTS:
The tragedy which claimed seven lives in the Mangatepopo Gorge has brought back traumatic memories for another Outdoor Pursuits Centre instructor who was involved in a similar student drowning in the same spot, 32 years ago.
"It wasn't a flood scenario but it was still a tragedy in that a young girl died. As soon as I heard the news [about this week's drownings] I felt totally sick in terms of feeling for everyone involved," former OPC instructor Peter Mansfield told the Weekend Herald.
Mansfield was about 19 and had been working at the centre for two years when the river claimed the life of 14-year-old West Auckland student Sally Rae Howe in 1976.
It was the first year that school groups started traversing the gorge from top to bottom and Mansfield, another guide, a teacher and eight students were nearing the end of their trip when the accident happened.
While the river was not in flood, it was raining and the water level had risen slightly. Students were being helped across a calm part of the water when Sally slipped and was swept downstream into the rapids. She became trapped under a log. Mansfield leapt in after her but was unable to free the teenager and she drowned.
Speaking from Australia, where he is now a regional general manager for the Australian Printing Association, Mansfield said memories of what happened came rushing back when he heard about six students and a teacher being swept to their death in the same stretch of water this week.
He felt for the parents of his student who drowned all those years ago, for the parents of the students and the teacher who drowned this week, and for the staff at OPC, especially Jodie Sullivan, the instructor who survived the tragedy.
Mansfield has sent the centre an email offering his condolences. While the latest tragedy is on a far greater scale than his own, he has some understanding of what Sullivan is going through.
"I certainly feel for her."
Mansfield's advice is for Sullivan to have faith in her abilities as a qualified instructor.
"Try to hold on to your trust and confidence in yourself as a person and the decisions you made at the time," he said.
"You keep looking back and thinking, 'Could I have done anything different?' but you've still got to keep hold of the fact you did the best you could at the time."
Asked if students should be allowed to continue going up the gorge, Mansfield said there was risk in many things people did, especially in the outdoors.
"You are always going to have that question, but if you want excitement there is always going to be a degree of danger."
He said that in his three years as an OPC instructor he never saw the river rise as quickly as it did this week.
