Bush Tramp Disorganised, Says Search Controller
PA Wellington – A search controller, Mr Arnold Heine, says a school outing that ended with 10 children lost in Wellington’s Wainuiomata bush was “completely disorganised” and blatantly ignored basic mountain safety rules.
The children obviously did not know the route, or 50 of them would not have got lost, he said. The maps he saw were useless, and supervision appeared inadequate. Three simple ground rules—keep together, keep an eye on children, and take a count at the top of the hill—appeared to have been totally ignored.
Search and rescue teams were called in on Tuesday evening after two separate outings from Parkway College and Wainuiomata Intermediate met and became mixed up while walking from Wainuiomata to Eastbourne. Mr Heine said that the intermediate children appeared reasonably under control, but the Parkway pupils “seemed randomly dispersed.”
“My information was that the Parkway pupils were let loose and told to go up the hill. I believe children were running everywhere,” he said.
His comments were strongly denied by Parkway’s principal, Mr Bryan Whisker. He said the tramp was adequately supervised, well planned, and had been a regular feature for 11 years. The main reason for children getting lost was the confusion that ensued when the two school parties, totalling more than 100 children, met at the top of Lowry Trig, he said.
The principal of Wainuiomata Intermediate, Mr Douglas Thwaites, said a vandalised direction sign added to the confusion. “Several groups reported seeing signs on the ground or pointing in the wrong direction,” he said.
The school did not know that Parkway College had also organised a walk. “It became confusing as to who was whom. A child who became separated tended to follow the child in front,” Mr Thwaites said. The adults had done the best they could in the circumstances, trying to round up the children.
By 5 p.m., it was clear that some children were still in the bush, Mr Heine said. Search and rescue was called in and was initially told that 50 children were missing. All except 10 walked out by themselves to various points along Gollans Stream or back to Wainuiomata.
Five were brought out late in the evening, and the final five stayed overnight in the bush with searchers, arriving home fit and well, although cold, yesterday.
