Survivor tells of torrent of rocks
Jungho Son thought he was going to die when a torrent of boulders were smashing on top of him and a friend.
Speaking from Hawke’s Bay Hospital, Son spoke of the moment the landslide collapsed on the pair nearly two weeks ago at Cape Kidnappers in Hawke’s Bay.
Son, 29, from South Korea, said he and his friend, a woman in her 20s, were on their way back from seeing the gannet colony when the slip happened.
The pair passed the location earlier in the day, noticing it was more rocky than other places on the coast.
‘‘On the way back we tried to pass the spot, and then my friend just said: ‘Hey, it’s collapsing.’
‘‘I could see a big part of the cliff start to part and start sliding down and I thought: Oh, sh.., it’s really collapsing.’’
Son realised it was too late to run further down the beach to escape the landslide.
While the pair ran towards the ocean, the rumbling was getting ‘‘louder and louder’’, he said.
His friend ‘‘tumbled’’ and Son tried to reach her, to prevent the boulders from falling on top of her. That was the moment the pair got swept out and ‘‘submerged’’ by the rock fall.
‘‘In the ocean, I still could hear the rumbling sound, because it was still going . . . I literally thought I couldn’t make it. I couldn’t make it, because I was [getting hit] by rocks
. . . but it stopped.’’
When the torrent of rocks ceased, Son got to the surface of the water. His friend also popped up.
Son attempted to drag the pair out deeper, fearing another collapse. A boat and a ute then arrived. ‘‘From that point we tried to just use our hands and push our bodies to the shore.’’
The pair eventually reached land, where a rescuer told them emergency services had been phoned. A nearby tour group turned up and more people rushed to help.
‘‘I really want to say thank you to all people who helped us . . . we were really lucky that we [had] people around us at this time.’’
Son said he was in ‘‘a lot of pain’’ as his leg ‘‘[kept] moving out of shape’’.
‘‘I’m not a doctor but in this immense [situation I realised] my nerve is not that damaged. There is hope . . . I thought, it’s nothing, it’s a matter of time.’’
Hawke’s Bay Hospital orthopaedic surgeon James Blackett said Son’s tibia was broken in three places. His fibula bone had also snapped.
Son developed compartment syndrome, where the swelling in his leg was so great, it limited the blood supply to his muscles, causing them to start to die.
He’s had three operations since, and Blackett explained that if Son’s bones heal, he will be able to walk again.
Son’s friend suffered a fractured thigh and pelvis. She was more immobile than Son, but was stable and recovering well.
Son came to New Zealand on a working visa in January last year. ‘‘I wanted to do a lot of things in a short period of time . . . But because of the accident, everything’s got simpler . . . it’s more stress-free these days.’’
Access to Cape Kidnappers remains closed.