The Department of Conservation has made sweeping safety upgrades to a popular Fiordland walking track after the tragic death of a young girl.
Ten-year-old Tegan Chen died after slipping into the fast-flowing Marian Creek in the Fiordland National Park while on holiday with her family last year.
Tegan and herfamily were visiting New Zealand from Australia when, on January 25, 2024, when the tragic accident occurred.
The track is considered an easy 20-minute forest walk and is frequented by tourists for its scenic beauty, Coroner Borrowdale wrote.
Tegan Chen was 10 years old when the New South Wales girl died while on holiday in New Zealand.
The family reached the end of a cantilevered boardwalk, known as the Upper Gantry, which leads directly on to a smooth rocky outcrop beside Marian Creek.
Coroner Borrowdale said that despite the name, the creek was a powerful alpine river and she would refer to it as so.
A Chen family photograph depicting the Upper Gantry and rocky outcrop.
According to the coroner’s report, the children, including Tegan, moved ahead on to the rocks.
“Tegan and her brother Luke were squatting near the edge, while Zac stood further back. Their father, Adrian Chen, was standing only metres away,” the report says.
“As Adrian watched, Tegan went to stand up, slipped, and fell into the river.”
As she was swept downstream, Adrian Chen ran alongside, shouting to his daughter to grab something.
Tegan briefly clung to a rock and raised herself up, but was quickly swept away.
A tree-planting dedication for Tegan Chen at her school, with parents Adrian Chen and Deb Fung.
She was found 420m downstream, unresponsive at a logjam.
CPR was administered by bystanders and a doctor flown in by helicopter, but she could not be revived.
A post-mortem conducted by pathologist Dr Michael Dray confirmed the cause of death as drowning, with injuries “consistent with being tumbled in a rocky river”.
While the Department of Conservation (DoC) had previously assessed the track in 2018, the rocky outcrop and river were not flagged as hazards.
The coroner noted that although the DoC did not encourage access to the outcrop, “there was no formal track end to discourage visitors from wandering, and the platform could have been inviting to visitors, including as a natural ‘stage’ for photographs”.
The DoC extended its “sincere condolences” to the Chen family and conducted a full review.
“Visitors are always exposed to some area of risk when recreating in the outdoors – risk cannot be eliminated,” it said in a statement provided to the coroner.
Following the incident, the DoC implemented significant safety improvements at the site.
The upgraded Upper Gantry area as at June 2025. Photo / Department of Conservation
These included the installation of prominent warning signs, a child-proof gate (initially temporary) and, most notably, a full upgrade of the Upper Gantry platform.
The updated site now includes barriers along all sides, blocking access to the previously exposed rocks.
The signage clearly warns of “rock, water and fall hazards” and is visible from both the boardwalk and the approach to the track.
The DoC has also reclassified the Marian Falls Track, acknowledging that its typical visitor profile has shifted toward “short-stop travellers” with lower skill levels and higher need for risk management.
“DoC’s response has been exemplary,” the coroner concluded.
“In my view, these represent a vast improvement to the safety of the site.”
In addition to the site-specific changes, the DoC is considering broader reforms, including simplifying its visitor classification system and providing clearer risk communication at unmanaged or informal tracks.
The department noted the rise of social media was a likely factor in more visitors venturing off-track.
The coroner declined to make formal recommendations, citing the DoC’s “thoroughness and thoughtfulness” and noting that the improvements already made were “to be encouraged.”
Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.
