Source: Radio New Zealand
15-year-old Karnin Petera died during a Whangārei Boys’ High School trip to Abbey Caves in May 2023. SUPPLIED
A staff member says a fatal school caving trip went ahead despite an orange heavy rain warning because he was certain the rain would hit hours after the boys were due to leave the cave.
A coroner’s inquest is currently underway into the death of 15-year-old Karnin Petera, who died during a Whangārei Boys’ High School trip to Abbey Caves in May 2023.
Sixteen other boys and two adults managed to get out of the cave alive after an underground creek tuned into a raging torrent during heavy rain.
Much of the focus of Monday’s evidence was on which weather information was considered and what drove the decision to proceed with the trip.
A staff member, whose name is subject to an interim non-publication order, said he had explored the caves many times and had never known Organ Cave – the one where the tragedy took place – to flood.
He knew the two other, narrower caves – Middle Cave and Ivy Cave – could flood, because he had seen leaves stuck to the ceilings after rain.
The forecast of heavy rain later in the day prompted the organisers to start the trip half an hour earlier than usual and limit it to Organ Cave only, so they would be out by noon instead of the usual 2.30pm.
Coroner Alexander Ho. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
At the time, the staff member said he was “certain” the band of heavy rain would arrive in Whangārei around 3pm.
That was based on three-day MetService regional forecasts and hourly local forecasts.
Those forecasts had not changed between Sunday and the fateful Tuesday morning, which gave him confidence the predictions were correct.
He knew about the Northland-wide orange heavy rain warning, issued the previous day, but was convinced that was connected with the “gnarly” band of rain he expected around 3pm.
He now accepted, after hearing MetService evidence on Friday, that a severe weather warning could mean “anything could happen at any time”.
He defended not checking the rain radar that morning, saying he needed to know what was coming and not what was happening at the time.
The staff member said he had been to Organ Cave after a full night of rain in 2016 but the water at the entrance was only thigh deep.
In his experience, Organ Cave drained well and could handle a lot of water.
Flowers at the caves following Karnin’s death. RNZ / Jordan Dunn
However, when he rushed to the cave after hearing the boys were trapped, he saw the water at the entrance was 2-3 metres deep.
“It was beyond anything I ever imagined,” he said.
The teachers leading the trip told him the water inside the cave rose from waist deep to neck deep in a matter of minutes.
“It sounded phenomenally quick, nothing I’ve ever experienced.”
It also emerged during Monday’s evidence that the school had no clear criteria for when an outdoor trip should be cancelled, or what constituted “extreme weather”.
Ellie Harrison, lawyer for Karnin’s family, questioned his statement he was “certain” the heavy rain would not fall before mid-afternoon.
“How can anyone be certain about the weather in Northland?” she said.
Harrison also questioned the lack of an emergency plan, which could have helped guide decision-making once water levels started rising inside the cave, and the lack of emergency communications.
If the group had a radio or satellite phone, the school might have been able to pass on Karnin’s father’s concerns, who saw city streets flooding in Whangārei around 9am, just before the boys entered the cave.
There is no cellphone coverage underground or at the entrance to the cave.
After getting out of the cave, two of the boys had to find a member of public so they could raise the alarm.
Harrison said the tragedy could have been avoided if the trip had been cancelled, or if the group had retreated to a higher part of the cave and waited for the water level to fall.
However, the staff member said there was no way of knowing how long that would take, and the boys, who were cold and wet, would have been at risk of hypothermia.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand