Teacher tied himself to disabled teen in bid to save him

A smiling Tony McClean at the Outdoor Pursuits Centre during the Elim Christian College trip that ended in his death as he tried to save the life of one of the students in his care. Photo / Supplied

Teacher Tony McClean, one of the seven to die in the Mangatepopo River tragedy, tied himself to one of the students, a disabled boy, in a bid to save him.

Braced on a ledge in the swollen Mangatepopo River, McClean tied himself to the last teenager left to enter the water and they let go.

The selfless bid to try to save the life of cerebral palsy sufferer Tom Hsu, 16, has prompted many to call the 29-year-old a hero.

The group of school students were on a canyoning trip down the Mangatepopo River when rising flood waters caused by heavy rain swept six students and Mr McClean to their deaths.

The Weekend Herald has learned that rescuers believe Mr McClean's chance of survival would have been "huge" if he had gone alone.

They say Tom would have been like an anchor for Mr McClean.

Being a stronger swimmer than his pupils, Mr McClean would have had a much greater chance of reaching the side of the river before being hurtled over the Genesis Energy dam.

Mr McClean and Tom were the last pair found, floating feet first more than 3km downstream from the plunge over the dam that probably took their lives.

Mr McClean's father, John McClean, said police told him his son and Tom were still bound together.

He said Tom's disability made him the "natural one" for his teacher son to have tried to help.

"When the police lady told me that I thought, 'That's him'," Mr McClean snr said of his eldest child.

Five other Elim Christian College students died on the gorging trip. Four students and Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre instructor Jodie Sullivan survived.

Tony McClean, a surfer and musician who was a youth pastor and tried to live the words of Gandhi, was committed to loving and serving other people in his life - and in his death.

A bond had already formed between Mr McClean's mother Jeanette and Tom, an international student from Taiwan.

As "camp mum" to Elim's overseas students, Mrs McClean had pushed Tom's case to the school, despite uncertain arrangements for funding of the care he would need.