What Happened?
On the morning of Friday April 28th 1995, twenty people from Tai Poutini Polytechnic arrived at Paparoa National Park to study the landscape in the Cave Creek area. A Department of Conservation Field Officer accompanied the group. The group walked along the Cave Creek South Track until they reached the Cave Creek viewing platform, after about half an hour of walking. On this platform, they could view the resurgence below. By now it was around 11.25am. The group of students were joking about the stability of the platform, when suddenly the platform gave way. The platform started to sway and tilt, at what survivor Stacy Mitchell estimates to be a 45 degree angle (3). It then launched forward over the chasm, crashing through the trees before it thudded to the floor of the chasm amongst large rocks. The platform remained intact and fell in one piece without breaking up. After the collapse, the group’s tutor, a Visitor Centre manager, Shirley Slatter, and three other students who had been behind this main group of eighteen rushed to see what had happened after hearing a “big noise and the screams and the creaks and crunches” [Leanne Wheeler](7)as it collapsed. After the Collapse: Twelve people died instantly, while six survived the initial fall. As the five people who were not involved in the collapse investigated, they noticed an empty space and then saw the bodies below. They knew they had to first get help, and then use their own skills to try and help those who had survived the fall. A student, Mark Traynor, and Shirley Slatter were in charge of getting help. They reached the cars at the parking lot at about 11.44 and then Mark cycled a further 8km to raise the alarm. At 12.16, Mark phoned the police and gave them the details. Immediately, emergency services from all over the Greymouth area responded by sending ambulances, helicopters and search and rescue teams. The first helicopter to arrive lowered a scoop net about 40 meters down to lift the students from the chasm which was very narrow, into the ambulances where they could be treated. Survivors: While 6 people initially survived the fall, by the time the paramedics arrived, 2 had passed away due to the injuries they had sustained. Only two hours after the platform fell, there were more than a dozen rescuers at the scene. Two of the survivors were taken to Greymouth hospital, with the other two more seriously injured survivors being taken to Christchurch Hospital due to their severe injuries. The rescuers were then tasked with transferring the bodies from the chasm to a makeshift morgue at Greymouth Hospital. Wrapping it Up: This was all wrapped up before nightfall. Although the disaster occurred in only a matter of seconds, the repercussions and consequences continued on through the following months and years and in many ways this disaster has contributed to the country we now live in today, shaping our national identity. (See 'Consequences' page) Footnotes: 3.Brockie, Bob ‘The Penguin Eyewitness History of New Zealand’ Penguin books, 1998, updated 2002, pp. 258-259 4. Nobel, G.S ‘Commission of Inquiry into the collapse of a viewing platform at Cave Creek’ The Department of Internal Affairs, 1995. Pg 8 5. NZPA, '1995:14 Plunge to death after platform fails' The Otago Daily Times, 25th October 2011 6. NZPA, ‘Tragedy at Cave Creek’ The New Zealand Herald, April 29th 1995 7. Nobel, G.S ‘Commission of Inquiry into the collapse of a viewing platform at Cave Creek’ The Department of Internal Affairs, 1995. Pg 12 |
"This is an emergency, 111 Police, approx 15 people have fallen 100 feet. Cave Creek top platform collapsed. We need helicopters, scoop net, medics, ambulance, crash kit, personnel." “The platform itself was in one piece at the bottom of the gully, with a number of deceased persons on and around it.” “When I woke up it was my best friends around me whom I saw dying” Click on this link to gain more knowledge about day of the disaster and to learn more about those who died:
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