Police refused use of rescue chopper because they wrongly thought teenager was dead

Source: Radio New Zealand

Firefighters begged police for a helicopter to help rescue a teenage girl from a Coromandel cliff face, but police refused because they mistakenly thought the girl was dead.

The 13-year-old had seen her friend fall past her to his death on rocks below, just before 8pm at Hahei beach on 11 January this year.

A Fire and Emergency (FENZ) cliffs rescue team drove from Hamilton and lowered her down to safety at midnight.

A FENZ call log and emails from the night – obtained by RNZ – reveal police refused a chopper “because of the cost”.

Police this week said if they had “asked the necessary questions” they would have categorised it differently.

“Unfortunately, police incorrectly concluded the child had died, and it was therefore appropriate to dispatch the ropes team via road transport, rather than helicopter,” police said.

“Police unreservedly apologise to the young person and their family.”

The FENZ emails expressed distress and frustration on the night, but also referred to recurring problems getting air ambulance helicopters (AAH) to transport their lines rescue teams.

“Had the crew been deployed via helicopter, their flight time would likely have been less than 45 minutes rather than the 1 hour 40-minute drive,” the communications shift manager emailed.

“This is a further instance where we have been delayed in reaching the scene of a rescue due to police not approving AAH to transport our crews,” FENZ head of specialist response Aaron Waterreus told his national bosses shortly after the rescue.

A line from the fire-fighters’ call-log, just before 10pm, showed Hahei volunteer fire-fighters had asked where the cliff rescue team was, and Hamilton acting group manager Matt Leonard explained “police wont [sic] approve helo response because of the cost – asked if FENZ can foot the bill for it”.

Only police could authorise an air ambulance and “FENZ has no ability to authorise the tasking”, another email said.

FENZ, police and St John would not address RNZ’s questions about whether there was a wider problem with air ambulance or lines rescue responses, and if that had been fixed.

‘She was perched there’

A coroner’s findings showed the two teenagers had arrived at Hahei earlier on 11 January with her family. Their identities are suppressed

They went off together about 7pm. The girl’s father told police they had not discussed climbing.

Up on the rocks, the girl became worried and told the boy she could not climb back down, so they pressed on towards the top. When she looked down, the boy fell past her from a height of 15-20m.

She shouted for help from 10-15m up, and a bystander called for assistance. Hahei volunteer fire-fighters, a St John ambulance and a chopper with a winch from Ardmore went to the scene.

The FENZ call-log showed that at one point the responders said: “Just asking if Westpac helo could do it.”

But RNZ was later told: “She was perched there – they were worried the rotor wash would blow her off.”

Police in their statement this week said something similar: “Responders from Hato Hone St John and FENZ requested a ropes team be dispatched by helicopter to help rescue a second young person perched on the cliff face.”

But they had wrongly concluded this person was dead.

‘Incredibly sad and frustrating’

Leonard emailed his bosses within hours of the rescue, saying: “The young girl remained stuck on the cliff face for many hours after watching what had happened and it took many hours after the fall to successfully rescue her by our lines team who had to travel over 2 hours via ute.

“My concerns raised many months ago were sadly proven true and ironically while I was on call as the duty exec we had the incredibly sad and frustrating decline of approval by police to deliver my lines team asap to the scene to perform the rescue of the stricken young lady.”

About an hour after the girl was rescued, FENZ’s communications centre shift manager had emailed Leonard, saying: “It was deeply distressing for everyone to be told that we could not deploy a helicopter to assist a 13-year-old girl stranded on the side of a cliff in the dark, after witnessing the tragic death of her 12-year-old boyfriend.” The coroner reported the boy was 13.

‘A second young person perched on the cliff face’

Acting Waikato police district commander acting Superintendent Will Loughrin told RNZ this week that police had taken steps to address “a lack of sufficient information-gathering, which meant appropriate priority was not given by police to the rescue in Hahei”.

They were alerted at 8.11pm on that January night that FENZ and Hato Hone St John were responding to reports of “a child falling from rocks”.

FENZ then asked police for a helicopter to pick up its lines team to help rescue the second person.

“Had police asked the necessary questions, the matter would have been categorised differently, and specific Police Search and Rescue staff would likely have been dispatched to help co-ordinate the rescue,” Loughrin said.

“Waikato police have been reminded of the appropriate process around the authorisation of such resources, including asking the appropriate questions to determine the full circumstances.”

There was no reference to any wider problem.

Police did not agree to an interview.

They later added they had spoken to the family, “who have reassured us that people at the scene on the night were in continual communication with their child until the rescue was completed”.

“To that end, the family say they are satisfied with the rescue effort.”

Hoping for a ‘heli’

The call-log from 11 January showed the Hahei volunteer fire crew got to the cliff at 8.25pm and called in to say “13 year old girl trapped up the cliff line rescue reqd”.

(The call log is all in capitals, abbreviated and lacks grammar; it is edited here for clarity.)

The four-man lines rescue team left Hamilton in a ute just before 9pm. RNZ was told they were worried they would wait, but not get a chopper.

At 9.13pm, FENZ asked police: “Can your SAR [Search and Rescue] please approve Westpac heli to transport our level 3 lines crew to this incident? Have liaised with ambulance and confirmed heli available…

“They can pick up the crew from the side of the road somewhere.”

At 9.26pm, Hahei volunteers said: “Got a K41-1 [K41 indicates death] and still have person on side of cliff still waiting on lines rescue.”

At 9.50pm, they learned police had declined a chopper.

A few minutes later, in the ute on State Highway 25A winding up through the Coromandel range, the team called to say it was “likely too late for heli now”.

They made it to Hahei at 10.31pm and 36 minutes later were “preparing to rescue the young girl”.

They had to move in the dark through the bush above, taking huge care not to dislodge any rocks, before going down on ropes about 100m to her. A volunteer crew from Tairua with less advanced lines rescue skills got there a bit earlier, but had not got to her.

The log at 11.59pm recorded her finally down on the beach.

How this has come to light

The Hahei mistake has come to light after RNZ inquiries into a separate callout of a lines rescue team last week north of Auckland at Arkles Bay. Records show police told the FENZ team not to deploy until they gave the go ahead.

FENZ did not address questions about this.

In a one-line statement about Hahei, it said: “We have reaffirmed with New Zealand Police that, as lead agency for search and rescue, police are responsible for requesting our assistance and for coordinating rescue efforts.”

St John told RNZ its people “routinely engage with our search and rescue partners to ensure all processes are working effectively”.

St John operations head Doug Gallagher told RNZ in a statement their team at Hahei “discovered there was a second child trapped on the cliff, uninjured”.

“Police requested Fire and Emergency New Zealand respond with a specialist lines rescue team.”

FENZ then asked for a chopper “to expedite the transport of the lines rescue team and equipment which was responding from the Waikato area”.

The call-log showed this happened somewhere between about 8.30pm and 9pm.

“Under the agreed process, this request was passed to police, as the lead agency, who declined the request,” said Gallagher. He did not give a reason.

‘Stark example of the difficulties we encounter’

The FENZ emails from the night of the rescue referred to St John making a procedural change so that it no longer approved air ambulances, but required approval from the police’s national SAR co-ordinator.

A FENZ manager wrote that the Hahei call-log appeared to show police “declined at 2150hrs citing cost”.

A firefighter close to the rescue team told RNZ that shift managers were “hounding” police, to the point the team said “we are leaving by road because this is taking far too long”.

The emails showed the communications shift manager telling Matt Leonard this was just as well.

“Had they not made that decision, the delay in response would have been even more significant,” wrote the manager, who RNZ is not naming.

“I have struggled to find the right words to convey the frustration and urgency of this matter. We have encountered these same issues repeatedly, and I’ve attached previous communications regarding lines rescue responses for reference.”

She said the police dispatchers – and those from ambulance, the airdesk and FENZ – had tried their best. But the police late shift had only just come on and “SAR had not been notified because this was not considered a SAR incident”.

“We were left waiting for their approval for actions they were not briefed on …

“Tonight’s incident is a stark example of the difficulties we encounter due to procedural gaps and miscommunications.”

The shift manager added: “The emotional toll on the team is intensified by the fact that this issue has remained unaddressed for such a long period of time.”

The police and FENZ communications teams for Hahei were on the same floor of an Auckland building.

‘Powerless’

Matt Leonard in Hamilton said in his email that he had heard from an experienced lines rescuer who had been on holiday at Hahei and helped out, who told him: “If this wasn’t a case for helicopter assistance, I don’t know what is.”

Leonard told Waterreus they had tried to pre-empt such a thing happening, but been left feeling “powerless”.

FENZ in Waikato had spent hours with helicopter providers and changed local policies to try to pre-empt “significant delays” getting air ambulance choppers.

“I have also made countless phone calls to Airdesk and Firecom trying to understand and predict possible issues that may arise.”

There must be a review “so when we are called upon to rescue and save lives, it isn’t delayed and declined by others out of our organisation due what is perceived to be cost”, wrote Leonard.

Waterreus emailed FENZ’s national manager of response capability Ken Cooper, saying air ambulances were essential because most other helicopters FENZ could access could not fly at night or in bad weather.

“Are we able to reach agreement with the police that if we use an AAH for a rescue, then we will pay for it, as cost seems to be the reason our requests get declined,” he asked.

Asked about this, FENZ on Wednesday told RNZ: “We meet with New Zealand Police on a regular basis to discuss how we work together.”

TIMELINE

• January 11, 2025, 8.04pm – St John alerted to a teenager falling on to rocks at Hahei
• 8.25pm – Hahei volunteer fire crew gets there and reports the girl is trapped and they need lines rescue
• 8.43pm – St John tell Hamilton lines rescue a helicopter may be available ‘soon’
• 8.51pm – Team leaves by ute from Hamilton
• 9.26pm – Hahei crew called to say, “Got a K41-1 [K41 indicates death] and still have person on side of cliff still waiting on lines rescue”, but no approval from police SAR yet
• 9.37pm – Hamilton team suggests a chopper could pick them up near Thames
• 9.50pm – Team learns police have turned down a chopper
• 10.31pm – Lines rescue gets to cliff
• 11.59pm – “Patient is now safely on the ground rescued”

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand