How could this happen? (+graphic & videos)
At the small east Auckland college, 550 pupils, staff and parents remembered the three boys, three girls and their teacher who were on the final day of an adventure holiday.
Hundreds of kilometres away in Tongariro National Park, 50 distraught staff of the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre returned to Mangatepopo Stream to pay their respects by throwing bouquets into the water.
Tales of heroism emerged yesterday. A friend of teacher Tony McClean, 29, said Mr McClean died trying to carry a pupil to safety on his back. Apparently he had a child, they tell us, on his back, as did the instructor have a child on her back as they were trying to get out with the kids.
Sitting in front of a wall covered with letters, cards and flowers, Natasha Brays father, Andy, described how his daughter had tackled the trials of life.
She said her good friend Portia, who was in the group and died also, had said, weve got this little saying, `Well jump in puddles, dad.
The last two bodies were retrieved by helicopter early yesterday - their location 2.5 kilometres downstream evidence of the torrent of water that overwhelmed the group.
Elim principal Murray Burton said he had been told the victims had no chance of escape because of the high walls of the riverbank they were caught in. We understand that there was a flash flood which took the river probably triple, quadruple, in height - and equally in such a short space of time dissipated.
Five members of the group made it to safety, including the instructor, who had been in the job for three months.
The pupils, Mr McClean and the instructor were traversing the stream when they were overcome by rapidly rising water levels in the gorge, police said. They were just 30 metres from the end of their adventure.
Fears of rising water levels caused guides from a nearby rafting trip involving 11 and 12-year-olds to cancel their plans the same day. The pupils from New Plymouths Highlands Intermediate were at Turangis Lake Taupo Christian Camp.
Three investigations have been launched into the deaths - by the centre, the Labour Department and the police.
MetService says two alerts - a heavy-rain warning and a severe thunderstorm watch - were in place when the Elim group entered Mangatepopo Gorge, near Whakapapa Village.
But centre chief executive Grant Davidson said: There was no rain warning, it was just a simple rain forecast that was in the MetService report we get faxed here at eight oclock every morning.
Mr Burton said he would not judge the centre, which had a fine record.
We have natural questions as to what decision-making process they went through and that would be good to find out but that is where I will leave it at this stage.
Posted
on
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 7:52 pm under