About the Tragedy

On Sunday 13th April 2008 a group of 40 year 12 Elim Christian College students left Middlemore Train Station at 8am and set off for the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuit Centre which is also known as OPC.

At around 12:30 they arrived at the National Park train station where they met a bus which took them the rest of the journey before they finally reached OPC. They arrived at OPC and were taken on a tour of what their rooms would look like, where they would be eating and other things which they would need to know while staying at OPC.

A 3pm on Sunday afternoon the group of students and 2 teachers walked down the Jenny Craig stairs, down to the Mangatepopo River’s edge to have a look at where they would be taking part in some of the activities. On the way back they walked back up the road. The rest of the afternoon was very relaxing; they all got free time to do as they wished. This included playing different sports such as soccer, volleyball and table tennis.

Monday 14th April 2008 began will groups setting up for breakfast, lunch preparations and breakfast at 8am. The groups were then introduced to their leader and played some get-to-know-you and trust games.

The groups had lunch together and then went off to their separate activities. Tony McClean’s group went to the high ropes course. The rest of the afternoon was taken up by things like sorting out equipment hire (gear, helmets, boots, etc.) where this picture was taken.

At 6:30 they had dinner while sitting in their groups. At 8pm they had a guest speaker from OPC come in and talk to them. This was followed by a DVD about an extreme Bungee Jumper and the story of how he died.

Mr Charman then led the devotion for the night by talking about “Where are you going?” He shared Psalm 147, the students were left thinking about their own personal lives and about going to heaven.

Tuesday 15th April began with the separate groups preparing lunch. Tony McClean’s group had already prepared his lunch before he came downstairs. They didn’t know at that point that Tony was planning to spend the day with another group and Mr Daniel Charman was going to be their leader. However because Tony’s group had made his lunch he stayed with them. Each group went off separately to do different activities like the high ropes and tubing.

Around 1pm the group of 12 set off down to the river and began the walk through the gorge. There we no sign of danger, except the steady rain that had been falling that day and the day before. The group all had life jackets, wetsuits, helmets, water boots and many layers on underneath. By 2:40pm the river level had risen to the point where it was felt that it had become unsafe to continue and the decision was made to turn back. This was soon confirmed by the water level going from below their shoes to just above their knees.  The group found a ledge where it was hopefully safe to stand. They were still 60m short of completing the trip.

At 3pm after having stood together on the ledge for 30 minutes, it was still bucketing down with rain. It was so loud that it woke some people up that were sleeping back in the cabins. With no other option, the group’s only choice was to go down the river. If they had tried walking along the side the ferocious current would have swept them all away.

The instructor decided that one at a time they would jump from the ledge and swim to the bank where they would be safe. The instructor would go first so that she could stand on the side of the bank and pull each person in as they came past. From this point on the story was somewhat unclear. Various accounts have been recorded and will hopefully be verified in the days to come. The instructor raised the alarm via radio to OPC headquarters.

The first thing the remaining students back at base knew was at 5pm when Kish came in. Although he wasn’t saying much about what had happened, everyone knew something was wrong. At that point Kish still believed that all who had been in the river had come out ok and that only he had missed the instructor.

The next two hours were a blur and by 7pm Mr Daniel Charman was ask to do the most difficult task of identifying the bodies of Tom Hsu, Tony McClean, Portia McPhail, Natasha Bray and Tara Gregory. Furthermore the bodies of Anthony Mulder and Floyd Fernandes had been located but were not able to be carried out because they were 2km’s down stream and in an inaccessible place.

On Wednesday 16th April at 6:30am Mr Daniel Charman identified the bodies of Anthony and Floyd and then joined the rest of the students on the bus as they commenced their 5 hour bus ride back to Elim Christian College in Howick.

At 7am that same Wednesday morning, this was the press release issued by Mr Murray Burton (Principal of Elim Christian College)

We stand with the families of our school community who lost their loved ones yesterday in the waters of the Mangatepopo River. It is a tragedy which defies belief.

We can confirm that 6 Year 12 students and one teacher from Elim Christian College lost their lives on the 15th of April whilst gorging and canyoning in the Mangatepopo River as part of their week-long guided activities at the Sir Edmund Hillary Pursuit Centre in the Tongariro National Park. Elim Christian College makes 2 visits to OPC each year for outdoor education activities and leadership training.

A bus with 2 staff members (Girls & Boys Deans) will arrive at OPC at around 7.00am this morning to bring the other students and teacher back. The party is expected back here early afternoon.

We are holding a staff briefing at 8:15am, and a Y7-13 Assembly at 8:40am. A number of school, pastoral staff from Elim Christian Centre, local counselling professionals will spend the morning and indeed coming days working with students and staff as required.