Tragic drowning on a lonely beach

The woman and her daughter were close to home - behind the caravan in this picture - when they turned the wrong way in the dark. Picture / Dean Purcell

A 3-year-old Northland girl drowned in Hokianga Harbour after her adoptive mother became disoriented in the dark on a remote beach and headed the wrong way.

The child, described by locals in the tiny settlement of Rangi Pt as a beautiful little girl, managed to cling to her mother's neck for nearly an hour before her strength ran out and she slipped into the water.

"I can't imagine what the woman's going through," said James Watkins, among the rescuers at the tragedy in the early hours of Sunday.

"One moment everything's okay. The next you're enduring the worst nightmare of your life."

The tragedy unfolded on the northern shores of the Hokianga Harbour, where access is only by gravel roads and residents of the handful of houses and caravans must drive along the beach to get home.

About 10.30pm on Saturday, the woman and child were among two carloads of people whose vehicles got stuck on the beach as they headed home.

It appears in the dark they had strayed too far towards the sea.

After trying to dig them out, the rest of the group headed off to find a tractor to pull them out, leaving the woman and child with the car.

The pair waited but, when no one returned, the woman decided they would walk the 200m to her caravan.

But with no lights showing in any of the six houses and baches, and no street lights along the shore, she became disoriented.

Mistaking a light on the opposite shore for a nearby bach, the woman headed towards it - but instead of heading for safety she was walking towards the sea.

"It was pitch black, with heavy rain and a lot of wind. You couldn't see anything," said Mr Watkins.

They were walking hand in hand across the sand when the aunt suddenly became stuck in thick mud, unaware how close they were to deep water.

At the same time, a wave swept the girl from her grasp.

Sergeant Malcolm Collins, from the Kaitaia police, said the woman had "freed herself and jumped into the tide to get her".

"She has managed to grab hold of the girl, she had her around her neck for a while, but the water was quite rough and fast flowing at that point," he said.

In the dark and cold the woman managed to hold the girl, a niece whom she had been looking after through the Maori family adoption system called whangai.

"She reckons she was in the water for about three-quarters of an hour to an hour, just swimming around. Towards the end of that the little girl, who has had her hands around her mother's neck, slipped and let go.

"The mother grabbed her by the legs and managed to use her hands to [swim] closer into shore but [the girl] was limp by the time she got to shore."

Carrying her body the woman, the sister of the little girl's father, tried to find her way home, but was again disoriented by the conditions and high sand dunes which lined the shore.

"She was walking in the wrong direction before she realised and turned around the other way," said Mr Collins.

On shore, Mr Watkins had been woken by the group calling at his bach to get his tractor to pull the car out. When they couldn't find the woman, they had assumed she had walked back to her caravan.

When he heard a knock a second time, Mr Watkins said he asked if they had got stuck again.

"They said, 'Nah, bro, it's far worse than that.' I looked out and could see the poor woman holding the girl. We were all just dumbstruck. It was terrible.

"We called the police and emergency services but the whole group were devastated, traumatised."

That was nearly five hours after the cars got stuck.

It was another hour before ambulance officers could reach the remote area.

The little girl was pronounced dead when they arrived.

Police have not released the name because they are still trying to contact her birth mother.

Resident Maria Smart said the small community was in shock over the death.

"She was beautiful. You just don't lose a little girl like that ... It's a horrific current out there."

Mrs Smart said the girl's whangai mother was from local whanau and had just returned home to Hokianga in the last month.

"It was pitch black and raining [on Saturday night]. This whanau live on the beach. They rang here for help because they were stuck on the beach and our neighbour went to help them."

A rahui (ban) was immediately placed on the harbour from its entrance up to Karaka Pt but Mrs Smart said this would be lifted today because the girl had been found and was with her whanau.

It is understood the dead girl may be brought back to the local Waiparera Marae within the next day or two.

- additional reporting Tony Gee