'These were kids of excellence'

Fairfax Media

The father of one of the six students killed along with a teacher during a canyoning expedition says some of New Zealand's most remarkable young people have been lost. 

The students - three girls and three boys - and a male teacher died yesterday after heavy rain swiftly turned a river the group was canyoning down in the Tongariro National Park into a torrent.

Police have released the names of the victims. They are:

- teacher Anthony McClean, 29, of Howick.

- Natasha Bray, 16, of Pakuranga;

- Portia McPhail, 16, of Manurewa;

- Huan (Tom) Hsu, 16, of Farm Cove;

- Anthony Mulder, 16, of Howick;

- Floyd Fernandes, 16, of Howick;

- Tara Gregory, 16, of Mt Wellington.

Natasha Bray's father Andy said the death of his daughter was an "unfortunate accident".

"We've lost some amazing difference-makers, some role models.

"We lost some amazing people and my daughter was one of them . . . These were kids of excellence," he said.

"My daughter had not even kissed a guy."

Mr Bray said Natasha had been close friends with Portia. The day the group left Auckland on the Tongariro trip Portia had been asked what they would do if it was raining.

"She said 'we are going to jump in puddles together'."

Emotion spilled over at Elim Christian College when principal Murray Burton read out the names during this morning's assembly.

The names seemed to echo around the two-levelled hall, and the list seemed to go on forever.

All seven deaths have been referred to the Palmerston North Coroner for investigation.

The other students from the canyoning trip arrived at the school in a bus at around 1.20pm.

The pupils were led inside, as the rain fell on the sombre scene.

The students were part of a 40-strong group on a course with the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre based in Tongariro.

Mr Burton reassured the school community that the school hall was theirs to use as long as it was needed.

"Some students will want to go back to class, others will want to stay here to pray, talk or just sit," he said.

"There are lots of people here, and parents and public, ex students and friends are welcome – there is no time limit on this.

"We just need to stand shoulder to shoulder, side by side and work it through."

Mr Burton said all school activities, including lessons, had been cancelled until the end of the week.

The school assembly hall was opened to the media where cards and flowers had been left in a tribute to the dead students and teacher.

Messages include:

To Portia: "We miss your beautiful smile"

Tashie "I love you"

To Mr McLean: "See you in  heaven"

Portia + Tash: BSSL

Anthony Modder: Rocks

To Tara: "We luv you"

"To the awesome Elim students in heaven"

Tashie: We will miss you dearly and see you soon.

Education Minister Chris Carter, who flew up from Wellington to be at the assembly, said he came to express the sympathy of the Government.

"This is the worst possible thing that could happen to a family or a school.

"The pain the families are feeling is unbelievable ... this is the worst imaginable thing," he said.

Mr Carter said it was too early as Minister for Education to comment on the appropriateness of adventure education of this type, but he said that as a former Conservation Minister "the dangers of the extreme environment are well known."

Mr Carter met with the families of the dead children and assured them that the Ministry of Education's trauma team would be giving them all the help they need.

PRINCIPAL CALLS ON FAITH

Mr Burton told the assembly that faith was more important than ever in an event like yesterday's tragedy.

"If our faith means anything at all, it must mean everything now." 

"Having said that, I have no answers, you have no answers, we have but miles of questions, and that is human."

"And students especially, I want you to ask as many questions as you want to ask, and to cry, and to grieve, talk and write poems.

"This process is long, but it’s going to be good because we believe in God who created this world. He began it, he sustains it and he will end it.

"He is a god worthy of your trust  - he gave his own son.  He alone knows how our families and you feel today. 

"I refuse to stop trusting in him – I can't work him out, and that's a good thing because he is God, and I hold on to him.

"You hold onto him today, be angry, I don’t mind if you’re angry, be angry at God he can handle that, but keep trusting."

STUDENTS STRUGGLE WITH EMOTIONS

Teenagers seem to be dealing with it in simple language; "It sucks" said one boy.

Said another boy: "It's hard to put names to the faces."

One pupil said "my friend is okay but has been hurt pulling himself out of the river".

A school official this morning told Fairfax that the assembly "went very well" and that there was a huge support team in place.

"It is very sad (and we) had ripples of tears through the assembly."

Trauma advisors and victim support teams are at the school, where many classes are continuing as normal.

While many of the students already knew about the tragedy when they arrived at school, others had to be told.

Manukau mayor Len Brown knew many of the dead and this morning described them as "lovely, lovely people". They were leaders of the future.

"These young people, I know they are a huge loss, not only to their families but to all of us."

Mr Brown said the mood at this morning's school assembly was "loving and forgiving – there was obvious grief but a lot of loving".

The community was strongly religiously motivated; "this is definitely the time you wonder what God is doing".

Mr Brown said the families, who were told of the deaths about 10pm last night, would never get over it: "The stories, they are just tragic".

VICTIMS CHOPPERED OUT

A helicopter this morning retrieved the last two bodies from the banks of Mangatepopo River.

The two bodies could not be recovered overnight as they were is an inaccessible part of Tongariro National Park.

They were the first river fatalities at the centre for more than three decades, and police said the flood would have been difficult to foresee.

"The instructor was with them and they were just caught at the wrong place at the wrong time," Inspector Steve Mastrovich from Taumarunui police told Radio New Zealand.

The party got into difficulty in the Mangatepopo Gorge about 4pm and were swept away. The alarm was raised when they did not show up to be collected along with other students.

Five members of the group were safe, with one requiring medical treatment at Taupo Hospital after reportedly suffering head and back injuries in the raging water.

SUDDEN TORRENT

Outdoor Pursuits Centre chief executive Grant Davidson told TV3 News the water flow in the gorge rose from 0.5 cubic metres per second (cumecs) at 3pm to 18 cumecs at 3.30pm – "the equivalent to the Tongariro River going down a small stream" – before dropping back to 0.5 cumecs by 6pm.

"When they entered the gorge the water was at very low level and there was no prediction for heavy rain," he said.

"I am comfortable this was a normal activity we had with this age group in these sort of conditions. Obviously if we had known or predicted about the pulse of water we would not have been there."

The mood at the centre this morning was "very solemn", as families of the dead students started to arrive.

He told Radio New Zealand he had spent his life trying to avoid the situation he was now faced with, "but we are stepping up to it today".

All activities at the centre are now suspended and remaining students were being sent home by bus.

Dr Davidson said the centre would conduct its own inquiry and would co-operate fully with the police investigation.

- with NZPA