The northern end of Hāhei Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula, where a boy died after falling from a cliff. Photo / Al Williams
A young teen and his friend on holiday had spent an afternoon paddleboarding and exploring the area before they climbed a cliff face together.
But as the 13-year-old boy, whose identity has been suppressed, climbed ahead of the girl, she expressed concern at how high they were.
Moments later, the boy, who agreed they were quite high, fell past the girl and onto the rocks below them. He died at the scene.
Now, Coroner Michael Robb has said the boy’s death, which occurred at Hāhei Beach on January 11 this year, served as a tragic reminder that young people can lack full appreciation of the dangers involved in some activities.
“Especially those who are adventurous and have an inclination to test physical abilities and boundaries,” he wrote.
Today’s findings outlined the details of the teen’s fatal climb.
The boy, his friend and her family arrived at Hāhei Beach Resort, in the Coromandel Peninsula, around noon that day.
The young friends explored the area and went paddleboarding before returning to the campground for dinner.
Later, after 7pm, they went for a walk together.
According to the findings, the girl’s father told police he believed the pair would stay near the campsite and they had not discussed climbing.
The pair spent time at the campground before walking along the beach by themselves and onto rocks leading up to a cliff edge at the northern end of the beach.
According to the findings, the boy went first and told his friend to check every rock on the way to ensure it could hold her weight.
At some point, she noticed they had climbed quite high and expressed her concern to him.
She told him that she was unable to climb back down and that they should climb to the top and walk back down the path to the beach to get their belongings.
He agreed, and as they kept climbing, the friend looked down to see how far up they were.
As she looked down, she saw him fall past her.
She shouted for help from the cliff face, where she became stuck.
A bystander on the beach saw the boy fall and went to check on him when they heard the girl screaming from about 10m to 15m above.
The boy was found lying face down on the rocks with a large wound to his head and bleeding heavily.
He was unresponsive but breathing. The bystander and their family tried to help the boy until paramedics arrived and took over.
Fire and Emergency and a rescue helicopter also attended the scene.
According to the findings, the friend’s father began looking for the pair around 8.30pm.
He did a couple of sweeps of the beach before becoming aware of the rescue helicopter, then spoke to a firefighter and learned of the incident.
Despite efforts by emergency services, the boy was pronounced dead at 9.15pm.
Around 11.55pm, his friend was rescued from the cliff by Fire and Emergency. She was in shock but uninjured.
A police examination of the area later concluded the boy had fallen between 15m to 20m.
In his findings, Coroner Robb said the boy, like many children of his age, loved to climb and test his abilities.
But the pair had climbed the cliff without fully comprehending the dangers involved, he found.
“Tragically, rather than this climbing activity leading to a less serious outcome, such as can so commonly happen, a broken arm or broken leg, his fall was fatal,” the coroner wrote.
“His death was a tragic accident where an everyday childhood activity went dramatically wrong.”
The circumstances that arose for his family were “a parent’s worst nightmare”, the coroner said.
“I am aware of their intense sense of grief, of loss, and of what might have been done to prevent his death.
“I recognise that children climb, and I have had to conduct coronial inquiries into other deaths where a child has climbed a tree, or terrain, or a structure, and has unexpectedly got into difficulty with fatal consequences.
“It is difficult to anticipate every danger.”
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.