Drownings lead to safety review at Auckland’s Hunua Falls

Auckland Council will conduct a safety review of the Hunua Falls swimming hole with the popular waterfall location having claimed the lives of two teenagers in nine days in less than a fortnight.

The drowning of a 13-year-old boy on Easter Monday followed that of a 17-year-old on 19th March and has led Franklin local board chair Andrew Baker to call for action.

Baker stated "we have to understand what it is that’s the root cause behind it. Understand that and we can work some way to mitigate that or to stop it."

Auckland Council General Manager of Parks, Sport and Recreation Mace Ward said about 200,000 people visited the falls each year, and Easter Monday's drowning was the ninth since 1980.

Ward said it was a beautiful but dangerous spot, and he personally would not consider it safe to swim there, telling Radio New Zealand “(it) drops off extremely sharply, in quite cold water, so the common scenario in drownings has been that people have got out of their depth very, very quickly."

Ward said there were clear signs about the dangers, including information in a number of languages, adding “I don't think it should be closed.”

Auckland Council Parks Manager Mark Bowater said people shouldn't be swimming there but there was little the council could do to stop them.

Bowater also told Radio New Zealand, “we consider it an unsafe spot to swim. There are natural beauties here and natural hazards as well, and we're doing everything we can to warn people about those hazards.

"We can't stop people from going into the water. It isn't physically possible to close off the falls."

Click here for more infomation on Hunua Falls on the Auckland Council website.

Images: Hunua Falls (top - courtesy Auckland Council) and safety warnings displayed at Hunua Falls (below – courtesy Radio New Zealand/Murielle Baker).

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