FILE
A frequent visitor to Rotorua has been found dead in a motel hot pool.
Rotorua police named the man as Kesho Sharma, 75, a doctor visiting from Melbourne.
Dr Sharma, who worked as a GP in Northcote, Victoria, was found in a thermal pool at the Rob Roy Motel on Fenton St about 3pm on Saturday.
It is not yet known how he died.
Police were called and the death has since been referred to the Coroner's Office and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
A Rotorua District Council geothermal inspector has visited the motel to check hydrogen sulphide levels. Under the Rotorua District Council Geothermal Safety Bylaw 2008, motel owners are required to have their pools tested every six months.
Council regulatory services manager Neven Hill said the council regularly tested Rotorua motel hot pools. There are around 70 mineral pools recorded by the council, at 36 commercial properties.
"We tested a local motel pool [Rob Roy Motel] at the request of police, and the results of those tests were provided to police as part of an investigation that is currently under way," Mr Hill said.
Rotorua police Inspector Ed Van Den Broek said those results had been forwarded to the coroner, as had results of the post mortem examination.
He could not comment on what the results showed.
A woman working at the motel said Dr Sharma was not a paying guest.
"He was a friend of the owner," said the woman, who did not want to be named.
"I've known [Dr Sharma] for 10 years. I saw him quite a lot."
Another staff member told the Rotorua Daily Post the owners not want to comment on the death as it was now in the coroner's hands.
There have been at least four deaths in Rotorua associated with thermal pools since 2003. At the joint inquest for two of these - Takapuna man Phillip John Ham, 88, who died in a hot pool at Fernleaf Motel in 2008 and Nelson man Phillip Stanley Binns, 77, who died after using a hot pool at Pineland Motor Lodge in 2007, it was ruled that people should not bathe alone in hot pools.
Coroner Wallace Bain ruled the operators and the council had gone to considerable lengths to ensure that the pools were safe and complied with bylaws but, to prevent another death, bathers should always bathe in hot pools with another person.
Dr Bain also recommended that hot pool water be stirred and the hydrogen sulphide gas measured by the operator with a handheld tester each time someone went to bathe.