Pāpāmoa Hills Cultural Heritage Regional Park summit closed following death

The park is expected to reopen at 8pm, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council says in a social media post. Photo / NZME

The summit area of Pāpāmoa Hills Cultural Heritage Regional Park is closed following a sudden death.

The park is expected to reopen at 8pm, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council said in a social media post.

“Please refer to the below map for the closure zone. Other tracks and areas of the park remain open at this time,” the post said.

In a written statement, Bay of Plenty Regional Council coastal catchments manager Pim De Monchy said the council was notified about the incident early this morning.

“The person passed away due to a medical event near the summit. We have been working alongside our iwi and hapū partners, who have issued a rāhui on the summit area which we shared on our social media earlier today. This is in place until 8pm tonight. It’s a very unfortunate event and we send our condolences to the family/whānau and all those involved.”

A police spokeswoman said police were notified of a sudden death in the Pāpāmoa Hills carpark at about 6pm on Sunday.

“It is not being treated as suspicious and will be referred to the coroner.”