Desperate bid to rescue buried teen

Hugh Biddle died at the white house at the rear. Photo / Troy Baker

The foster father of the teenager "buried alive" in a landslide that engulfed his home has spoken of his desperate search to find the youth.

Rob Shaw picked up an axe to hack his way into the bedroom of Hugh Biddle, 17, after it was buried in 4m of mud and debris late yesterday morning.

It emerged last night that Biddle had just found out he was to be a father.

His girlfriend Cherize Kutia watched as his body was carried from the house in Ohope in the eastern Bay of Plenty about 7.30pm.

It took searchers eight hours to dig their way to him.

Shaw was on the second floor of the house when torrential rain caused tonnes of earth and vegetation to slide down a 100m bank on to the house.

"It sounded like thunder," he said.

Shaw saw branches of trees, and then trees themselves, moving past the house.

He was deeply worried for Biddle, who was in his downstairs bedroom at the back of the house, and ran to it calling out his name. He got as far as the bedroom door, which was blocked from the inside.

Shaw stood outside shouting his name. In desperation, he grabbed an axe and started to cut his way through.

Neighbours arrived almost immediately after the slip and tried to claw their way through the dirt. Shaw shouted at them for help as they arrived, using his affectionate nickname for Biddle.

"Boy is still in there, he's still in there." One neighbour suffered bad hand injuries as she tried to dig her way through the landslide.

As he waited for news, Shaw said repeatedly: "He's a good boy."

The night before his death Biddle had been speaking with excitement about the future and celebrating the arrival of tickets to a Rugby World Cup match, said Shaw.

He was expected to be taken to Waimana, beyond Taniatua, for his funeral.

Residents rallied around distraught family members as they waited outside the Westend Drive house in the coastal village. They watched as emergency service and urban search and rescue workers walked down the drive carrying spades.

A 20-tonne digger was used to help scoop the mud and debris from the property which was held up with scaffolding. Pohutukawa hung precariously from the cliff above those working to free Biddle.

Kutia arrived when she first heard of the accident but was encouraged to go home to wait for news. She returned as Biddle's body was brought out.

Schoolfriend Rob Tai said Biddle had been with Kutia for three years and "he was expecting a baby".

Tai tried to text his friend after learning he was trapped inside the house, "but I didn't get any reply".

He described Biddle's relationship with Shaw as "real close - like father, like son".

Jocelyn Foster, who managed Biddle's rugby team at Trident High School in Whakatane, said he lived with Shaw since he was a young boy. "He called him koro, which is Maori for grandfather. Rob basically was his family," she said.

Tony Marrow coached Biddle until he left Trident High last year.

He described him as a talented halfback, who was passionate about his rugby.

"He always gave 100 per cent from the start. He was a nice fellow," he said.

Since Biddle had left, Marrow had caught up with him on the odd occasion on the sidelines.

Tai said Biddle had started a welding apprenticeship in Opotiki and was considering moving to Auckland for work.

Shaw, principal of Taneatua School, often "took troubled kids under his wing" said Foster.

But it was not the first time his family had been hit by tragedy. In 2004 he lost another stepson in an accident.

Greg Boynton-Shaw was surfing in Omaio Bay, 56km northeast of Opotiki, with two friends when a storm whipped up huge swells which overwhelmed them.

His body was found weeks later 70km away.

The latest tragedy would have a "profound effect" on Shaw and the community said Taneatua School board of trustees chairman Richard Sisam.

"He just needs plenty of support. He is a very dedicated principal - very compassionate and hardworking," he said.

A teacher who did not want to be named said: "It's a huge tragedy for us all. We all taught him and we all knew him. This is very raw."

A Westend Drive resident, motelier Christian Parker, said the landslide sounded like an avalanche.

"It was loud. There was lots of snapping of branches and logs. It rumbled probably about a good 5-10 seconds."

Parker said young people gathered on the street and there was a "sombre mood" as word of the accident spread.

He watched as the house collapsed under the landslide. "It was a scary sound, like an avalanche and the rumble of an earthquake. I just turned and ran."