Two dead and nine rescued in lake tragedy
Kayakers on guided trip swamped after wind rises to 20 knots
Two tourists are dead and nine others have been rescued after a tragic incident on the icy waters of Lake Tekapo.
A St John spokesman said four ambulances were sent to the scene, in South Canterbury, after the group of 11 young kayakers got into trouble about 4.30pm on Friday.
All 11 had been wearing life jackets and were in separate kayaks.
Two men aged in their 20s died at the lake, while the others managed to make it to safety at the isolated Motuariki Island, about halfway up the lake, until they could be rescued.
The suvirvors were all suffering from hypothermia and several were admited to Timaru Hospital. The water temperature on the lake at this time of year is typically about 6 degrees Celsius.
Mid-South Canterbury police area commander Inspector Dave Gaskin said all 11 had been wearing life jackets and were in separate kayaks.
‘‘There was a guided kayaking trip on Lake Tekapo this afternoon that ended in tragedy when two of the party died after the group had been swamped by heavy waters following a northeasterly wind that had got up [to about 20 knots].’’
A police investigation was under way to determine how the tragedy happened.
The names of the pair who died would not be released until their next of kin had been advised. Their deaths had been referred to the coroner.
Aquanorts, the company involved in the incident, declined to comment.
The company offered freedom rentals for single and double kayaks, stand-up paddle boards and aqua bikes.
Mackenzie District Mayor Claire Barlow said it had been ‘‘a terrible week for Mackenzie’’, following a fire that destroyed a family’s home in Fairlie on Thursday.
She did not know anything about the Lake Tekapo tragedy, but said it was ‘‘very sad indeed’’.
Hotel manager Rey Mendoza said he saw what appeared to be a body in a blue bag carried on a stretcher to an ambulance at the Tekapo Volunteer Fire Brigade station on Friday evening.
He saw a helicopter flying to and from the lake, about 5.30pm, from a pad behind the station, he said.
The 83-square-kilometre lake is cold because it is fed from glaciers in the Southern Alps. The surface water temperature drops to a low of about 6C in early September, rising up to 17C in January.
The lake is susceptible to high winds and large waves because of its size – it is the second-largest in the Mackenzie basin.
Gaskin has previously said weather conditions can change in as little as 20 minutes.
The lake claimed the lives of three men in October 2009.
Alexander Haywood, 72, his son, Anthony Haywood, 46, and Murray Green, 54, crashed their boat into a submerged object, thought to be a log, at high speed.
They drowned after the impact threw them into the water.
Only the body of Alexander Haywood was ever recovered.
Two of the party died after the group had been swamped by heavy waters following a northeasterly wind that had got up. Inspector Dave Gaskin