A recovery crew working on the Mount Maunganui slip site on Monday. Photo / RNZ, Nick Monro
By Sam Sherwood of RNZ
Police say they did not attend the Mount Maunganui campground after receiving a call about a disorder incident that referenced a potential landslip about three hours before a deadly landslide as it was unclear if the disorder resulted in any property damage.
It comes after a camper who contacted emergency services on the morning of the landslide told RNZ she saw a local council representative drive through the Mount Maunganui campground and directly past three slips about two hours before the deadly landslide.
The victims of the landslide have been named as Lisa Anne Maclennan, 50, Måns Loke Bernhardsson, 20, Jacqualine Suzanne Wheeler, 71, Susan Doreen Knowles, 71, Sharon Maccanico, 15, and Max Furse-Kee, 15.
A woman, who was woken by Maclennan, spoke with RNZ on Monday about efforts to raise emergency services earlier that morning, including her own call to police three hours before the landslide.
A call log provided by the woman confirms she called police at 6.18am. The outgoing call lasted eight minutes.
“I explained to them about the slips. I said, ‘look, I understand that you guys will be really busy, and this might not be anything, but this is what’s happened here’.
“It was enough to push the ladies’ campervan forward, and there’s a homeless man in the toilet block, and he was actually going crazy and sort of banging on the walls and smashing things.
“And so I said, maybe you should send someone to have a look at that, just in case. You know, there’s a lot of kids here… and they said, yeah, it is a really busy night. It’s been a busy night. It’s a busy morning, we’ll try and get a unit there.”
In response to questions from RNZ, a police spokesperson confirmed police received an emergency call at 6.18am in relation to a disorder incident that had occurred at the campsite.
“During the call, the informant also referenced a potential landslip.
“Police did not attend as it was unclear whether the disorder resulted in any property damage.
“Fire and Emergency New Zealand were earlier alerted to the slip, and the council was in turn notified.”
Between 5am and 9.30am in the Mount Maunganui area, Police received one other call about a slip on the base track.
“The informant left the area safely and noted cones had been placed to restrict further access.”
The woman earlier told RNZ that no one arrived until about 7.45am, when she said she saw what she described as a ute that was sign-written with Tauranga City Council. The ute stopped and the woman says she called out:
“Look, I don’t know if you can see them from where you are, but there’s these slips up here, I think, you know, someone should look at them.”
The woman was unsure the man heard her. The woman said the ute then drove through the Pilot Bay side of the campground slowly past the slips that she had filmed directly in front of several campsites.
“I figured, well, everything will be fine. Someone from the council’s come, they’ve seen the slips, he’s driven past them, he’s driven through the water that was coming down from that corner that collapsed. So I had no worries after that.”
RNZ asked Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale for comment on the woman’s account.
In a statement sent via the council’s media team, Drysdale said “all relevant matters relating to the lead-up to this tragic event will be considered as part of the independent review we are currently initiating”.
“This will be reported back to the community as quickly as possible.
“The detailed scope, timeframes and personnel involved in this independent review process are currently being worked through and will be communicated publicly as soon as finalised.”
It comes after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said there was a “strong case” for a government inquiry into the landslide.
He announced the possibility during a media conference on Tuesday afternoon, and said many questions about last Thursday’s slip were being asked, including whether there was a missed opportunity to evacuate people sooner.
“Six families are grieving the unimaginable loss of their loved ones, and they deserve answers. I acknowledge that the Tauranga City Council has ordered its own inquiry into the events leading up to the landslide at the campground.
“However, I do believe there is a strong case for an independent government inquiry, and we’ll be talking to Tauranga City Council about that.”
Luxon said it would be important not only for the grieving families but for helping to ensure lessons were learned to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
While an independent inquiry had already been announced by local council, Luxon said there were concerns it would not be impartial if it was conducted by the council.
“There’s a potentially an inherent conflict between the ownership of the campground and the council, but it’s also coming from conversations directly with the families that Mark [Mitchell] and I had in the last 48 hours with people in Tauranga at the Mount, and their big desires to actually understand what did happen here.
“I think doing that dispassionately, being able to do that very objectively, through an independent government inquiry would be the way forward.”
RNZ approached the Tauranga City Council and police for comment on Monday evening on the woman’s account.
“Once the recovery efforts are completed, we have secured the site and have geotechnical assessments that the landslide area is stable, there will be a process undertaken to examine the events that took place before and during this tragic event,” the council’s controller, Tom McEntyre, said.
“It would not be appropriate to make any comment now that could affect that process or pre-empt the outcome.”
In response to earlier questions from RNZ, deputy national commander Megan Stiffler confirmed Fire and Emergency New Zealand received a 111 call at 5.48am on Thursday, January 22, from a person reporting a slip near the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park.
“Our call takers made contact with the Tauranga City Council, the landowners of the camping ground, and notified them of this information at 5.51am.
“The landslip that was referenced in the 111 call received at 5.48am did not impact life or property and therefore Fire and Emergency did not respond firefighters to attend, instead we notified Tauranga City Council as the landowner responsible.”
Speaking to the New Zealand Herald, Tauranga City Council chief executive Marty Grenfell said there was no record of a 111 call being referred to the council.
However, a council statement released only hours later backtracked on this version of events.
“After further inquiries, we can confirm that the Tauranga City Council’s main Contact Centre received a call from Fire and Emergency New Zealand at around 5.50am on Thursday, January 22.”
The council said the chief executive’s earlier comments referred specifically to information logged in the council’s Emergency Operations Centre, which did not receive a call.
At around 9.30am, a slip came down at the Beachside Holiday Park at Mount Maunganui, smashing into campervans, tents, vehicles and an ablution block near the Mount Hot Pools.