German dies in cliff fall

A man is dead after apparently falling down a cliff on to rocks at Curio Bay yesterday, police said.

Wyndham police and St John advanced paramedics were called to the scene near the Curio Bay car park on the Waikawa-Curio Bay road about 5.40pm yesterday after a Curio Bay resident contacted police.

Sergeant Stan Leishman, of Gore, said the man was from Germany and had been working in the area for several months.

An Otago rescue helicopter carrying the paramedics took about 40 minutes to arrive at the scene but the man had died before they or police arrived.

The man had sustained serious head injuries, Mr Leishman said.

Constable Richard Lindsay, of Wyndham, said he and two paramedics were lowered from the helicopter to where the man was, at the bottom of a 20-metre cliff.

The tide was low and had it been high tide the water would have been lapping on the rocks where the man lay and made the operation more difficult, Mr Lindsay said.

A volunteer cliff rescue team was on standby to help with the operation but was not needed. A member of his family had been notified.

- © Fairfax NZ News