Sinkhole fall cyclist likely to lose use of his limbs

David Keys (right)

Relatives of a man who broke his neck while riding his bike into a Waihi sinkhole fear he will have a slim chance of rehabilitation.

"He's got no movement from the neck down - it does not appear too promising that they'll be able to rehabilitate him very much," David Keys' elder brother Ian said yesterday.

"It's that particular point in his neck he has knocked around." Ian Keys believed his 52-year-old brother, a weed-sprayer, was likely to remain in Middlemore Hospital's intensive care unit for some time.

"His condition is not looking too good," he said, adding that his brother was taking his predicament remarkably well, even though he could speak only in short bursts while a ventilator was removed from his face.

Mr Keys was found seven hours after falling into the hole in a park on Wednesday night.

He was rescued after his dog Bailey stayed loyally beside him alerting the attention of a council rubbish collector.

He said his brother was the younger of four siblings, and had an adult daughter, who was travelling back and forth from Hamilton to see him in hospital.

Meanwhile, the family had received offers of support from many people including churches, the Hauraki District Council and the Newmont Mining Company, which runs a major gold producing operation in Waihi. Although the site of the accident in Waihi East's Morgan Park is about 200m from a larger sinkhole, the council is confident mining is not to blame.

Council chief executive Langley Cavers said council engineers had been on site yesterday and would conduct a field investigation to determine what may have caused the collapse.

"Once we know that we might be in a position to minimise the risk of it happening again," he said.