Ahipara resident Jacquie Klever had only sympathy for the family of the 9-year-old Auckland boy who died when the motorised cart he was driving rolled on Ninety Mile Beach, but said there had been an air of inevitability to the tragedy.
The funeral for Rowan Willis, who died on the beach last Saturday afternoon, was held in Auckland yesterday. The tragic death has shocked locals, but not been a big surprise after several other accidents on the busy beach this summer.
"It has been bedlam here," Mrs Klever said.
"First the girls being hoons and doing donuts in a beach buggy and then having to be rescued [a woman was flown to hospital by rescue helicopter after suffering a broken arm when a buggy rolled in the same general vicinity] and now, sadly, a 9-year-old dying.
"Why was he allowed to drive a motorised vehicle on the beach? At the age of 9? Without a licence? This is so out of control."
The boy's death was the latest in a series of coastal tragedies this summer, and Northland's second road fatality this year. According to police, the go-kart rolled when it struck soft sand at Waimimiha, north of the Kaka St beach access. Speed was believed to be a factor, and as Ninety Mile Beach was officially a highway, the death would be included on the region's road toll, Northland road policing manager Inspector Murray Hodson said.
Two ambulances from Kaitaia and paramedics arrived to find the boy receiving CPR from bystanders, St John Mid North manager Mark Going said.
"We continued with resuscitation attempts, supported by the local fire service, but the resuscitation was not successful."
Mr Going was unsure if the boy was wearing a helmet.
Inspector Hodson added that although the beach was legally a highway, with a 100km/h speed limit, it was a very different surface from the road.
"You've got to respect the terrain you're travelling across. The sand can move, and it appears it was very light sand the boy hit. That's the nature of the beach - it's always changing. You can travel across it one day, and the next day encounter big holes," he said.