School considers review after student goes missing at Waihī Beach

Monday, 24 February 2020

A Hamilton school is considering employing an independent investigator to undertake a review after a student went missing on a class field trip. 

The search for 17-year-old Jaden Chhayrann resumed on Monday after he went missing in the surf at the northern end of Waihī Beach on Friday. 

The Melville High School student was on a class field trip at the Western Bay of Plenty beach when he got into trouble in the sea around 12.30pm.

In a newsletter sent out on Monday, principal Clive Hamill said a special meeting was being held Wednesday night so the Board of Trustees could receive his initial report on the incident and consider the employment of an independent investigator to undertake a thorough review. 

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After that, they will meet privately with the Chhayrann family. 

Hamill said on Friday evening they had a special blessing service at their school marae for the students and staff returning from Waihī. 

More than a hundred people attended the service, which was opened by Kaumatua Tutu Ormsby, with a blessing offered by a Buddhist monk from the Cambodian community as they joined the school in mourning the loss of one of their own. 

Waikato Police Search and Rescue Sergeant Vince Ranger said Jaden and another teen were swimming in the surf between the Surf Life Saving Club and the Top Ten Holiday Park when they were caught in a rip.

'The two young people were taken out in a rip,' he told Stuff on Monday morning. 

'One managed to make it back to shore and the other didn't.'

Both of the teens were struggling in the rip, Ranger said. Jaden was carried out to sea amid the swell. 

'There was a swell running on Friday when they were swimming - that swell abated over the weekend but is expected to return mid-week.

'It is fairly flat sea conditions today for searching.'

Lifeguards weren't on duty at the time but were called in to help during the initial search efforts on Friday, along with the Waihi Coastguard and Auckland Westpac Rescue helicopter. 

'That search continued over the weekend and this morning.'

On Monday lifeguards in inflatables were scouring the shoreline from the southern end near Bowentown continuing north past Waihī Beach and up the rocky coastline towards the Coromandel. 

It was hard to say which direction the teen may have been pulled, Ranger said. It depended on the currents at the time, which change hour-to-hour.

'We know there was a current running south at the time he was pulled out but we also know there was a current further out going north.'

Jaden's mother and father, along with other family, had travelled to Waihi on Friday and stayed over the weekend keeping vigil on the beach. 

On Friday evening Melville High School posted on it's Facebook page: 'It is with much sadness that we share with you that there has been a serious incident at Waihi Beach this Friday afternoon and one of our students is missing.

'The school is supporting the family, students and staff as we work through the challenges of this event.'

Jaden's presumed drowning has been referred to the Coroner.