'An absolute tragedy': Fatal beach incident believed to be family swimming

Wednesday, 18 January 2023

Emergency services managed to pull six of the seven people from the water.

A person is dead and another remains missing following a mass rescue being described as an “absolute tragedy” north of Whangamatā.

Those involved were reportedly all from the same family according to Surf Life Saving staff.

Emergency services responded to an incident at Opoutere Beach, north of Whangamatā which Eastern Coromandel beach locals describe as dangerous.

Police said individuals saw a group of seven people signalling for help, about 11.25am on Wednesday.

Six people were pulled from the water, but one person had died despite crews doing CPR, Fire and Emergency group manager Shane Bromley said.

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One person who was pulled from the water was a male in his teens according to Philips Search and Rescue Trust following the serious water incident at Opoutere beach.

One of those rescued was said to be a male in his teens according to Philips Search and Rescue Trust.

The teen was transported to Waikato Hospital in a critical condition via the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter for further treatment.

Three other people suffered minor injuries. Another person in a moderate condition was transported by road to Thames Hospital.

A search was ongoing for the person who remained missing.

Surf Lifesaving New Zealand said lifeguards at the Onemana and Whangamatā surf lifesaving clubs were alerted to an incident at Opoutere beach at 11.30am.

National lifesaving manager for Surf Lifesaving New Zealand, Andy Kent said the initial report was “six people in the water, all in trouble”.

“It’s an absolute tragedy, there will be a family that will be absolutely devastated and lifeguards are very distraught by the scenes they’ve had to deal with today,” Kent said.

“There was no report that we received that they were on a boat or anything like that, the information we have is that they were just swimming at the beach.”

He said lifeguards responded accordingly with IRBs and jetskis alongside the other emergency services.

Three rescue helicopters were seen at Waikato Hospital on Wednesday following a water incident at Opoutere Beach near Whangamatā.

“It has resulted in fatality…paramedics pronounced that male was deceased after CPR.

“The entire east coast of the Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and north of Auckland, with the swell we’re having at the moment it is quite sizeable and the waves and currents are very strong, so swimming at any beach has its risks.”

Following the major ordeal, Surf Lifesaving New Zealand said Lifeguards would sweep search the beach area on Wednesday evening which would likely continue Thursday.

Kent said the Opoutere beach area where the group was found was a non-patrolled area.

The incident may have been avoided he said if those involved were swimming where lifeguards were present and could assist promptly.

“It appeared from the report we have that it is one family which was swimming… our thoughts are with them.

”Our continued message is for people to swim at a lifeguarded beach.”

Whangamatā surf live saving club declined to give any further updates or information regarding the events that led to the group’s ordeal.

The beach, on the eastern side of the Coromandel peninsula, has a steep drop-off not far from shore.

At the time of the incident they said search and rescue efforts were underway in Opoutere with lifeguards from multiple clubs looking for and assisting multiple swimmers.

“Out of respect to the families we will not be releasing any further information to the public.”

A staff member from the Onemana surf lifesaving club said they were involved in the rescue mission “as well as probably every other club in the Coromandel”.

A St John spokesperson said they received a call at 11.27am on Wednesday.

Three helicopters, three ambulances and two managers responded to the scene and treated five patients.One person is in a critical condition and has been airlifted to Waikato Hospital,

St John initially said seven patients were involved but corrected that to five people.

Bromley said three local crews attended after getting the call at around 11.20am and left Opoutere Beach at 3pm.

The Westpac Auckland Rescue helicopter was among the helicopters that attended, and flight radar shows it flew what appears to be a search pattern along the beach but did not land.

Opoutere is about 11km north of Whangamatā and is sparsely settled but has a camping ground.

A local resident said that it’s a terrible swimming beach and does not have lifesavers on it.

“And with the weather we’ve had recently it’s pretty rough. Whangamatā has had similar conditions, and they had closed their beach with the recent weather.”