The death of 6 teenagers and a teacher on Tuesday afternoon while they were on a school camp came as a terrible shock to all New Zealanders. They were coming down a steep river gorge or canyon on the Mangatepopo River in the centre of the North Island. The canyon usually has some water in it but suddenly there was a huge flood of water and the 12 people in the canyon were swept into the water, over a 6 metre waterfall and were smashed against rocks. The instructor and 4 teenagers survived. One survivor told how he was thrown against rocks and his helmet broke in half. He managed to hold on to something and climb up the steep bank. He was taken to hospital but allowed to leave the next day.
All the teenagers were students at the Elim Christian College in Auckland, all aged 15 or 16. They had been staying at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre in the Tongariro National Park. The school principal said that the school had used this centre for the past 10 years to provide an outdoor experience for their senior students. Teachers and students at the school loved going on this school camp.
The MetService said that they forecast a heavy-rain warning but the Outdoor Pursuits Centre said that they did not receive this information. The police will carry out an inquiry to see what went wrong. The Minister of Education, Chris Carter, says that guidelines for school camps will be checked to see if there need to be any changes.
Many schools offer outdoor experiences for their students. Students learn kayaking, *abseiling, rock climbing, caving, rafting and boating. Usually school camps, like this one, are run by experienced instructors. This is not the first death of a student on a school camp but it is very unusual for anything to go wrong. It will be very sad if students are not given the chance to experience these activities in the future.
*abseiling is climbing down a cliff on a rope |