A 25-year-old Havelock North woman who drowned after scaling a fence and jumping into a covered swimming pool had been "out socialising", police say.
Sheree Margaret Robson, 25, and a man climbed the 1.8m fence to get into Havelock North Village Pools early yesterday.
"She jumped into the
pool and, for some reason, hasn't managed to surface," Senior Sergeant Ross Smith told the Dominion Post.
The pool was covered and it was possible she got trapped under the cover, he said.
Her friend tried to resuscitate her but was unable to.
Hastings District Council acting chief executive Mike Maguire said the fence was "not something you can get over without some effort".
"If people are determined to get over a 1.8m to 2m-high fence, they'll obviously get over it," he told the newspaper.
The council was likely to do "some sort of review".
Ms Robson was one of six people to have drowned since Christmas Day.
Police yesterday found the body of Catherine Elizabeth Kells, 29, of Waikato. The diver had been missing off Motiti Island, near Mt Mauganui, since Friday.
Ashley Atofa Patai-Vaisigano, 15, of Napier died on Thursday while trying to help his dog out of the Waikato River.
The family of a six-year-old boy who drowned on Boxing Day after tumbling from his bike in a campground asked that his name not be released.
Also on Boxing Day, Anthony Kasupene, 52, drowned at Tolaga Bay north of Gisborne when his boat his a rock 30m from shore.
Richard Tautolo, 36, a pastor at the Hope Church in Porirua, drowned on Christmas Day after being swept down the Waiwhakaiho River in Taranaki.
A total of 91 people drowned in 2006 but this year's toll will be higher. The rolling annual average of the past decade is 126 deaths.
- NZPA
