River washes away bodies from cemetery

The Gisborne District Council is being blamed for the loss of eight bodies when a river eroded a cemetery south of Ruatoria. Photo / Dave Fairey

The Gisborne District Council is being blamed for the loss of eight bodies when a river eroded a cemetery south of Ruatoria.

More than $30,000 is being spent on exhuming the remaining 15 graves at the Matahiia Cemetery, which is being closed and re-interring the remains at new locations.

Councillor Bill Burdett said that while the right steps were being taken now, the council should have acted long before eight families lost their ancestors.

Concerns about the Mata River heading toward the cemetery were raised by neighbours three years ago but the river had continued to eat away at the burial ground.

"We should've been on top of this a lot earlier. My grandparents are buried there and no work is going to be done until after New Year. Let this be a lesson to us in the future about river erosion," he said.

"We have to be more proactive, because this sort of thing can threaten road access."

- NZPA