‘Beautiful coast’ hides the danger

When Ting-Chang Chen leapt into the sea, he never made it back to dry land alive.

Minutes earlier, he and a group of friends had been enjoying a stag weekend, taking turns to jump off a cliff face and into the choppy waters of Opito Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula.

He was one of 157 people found by the coroner’s office to have accidentally drowned over the past five years, according to Ministry of Justice figures obtained under the Official Information Act.

While the data does not capture every instance of accidental drowning, the data suggests such deaths are increasing, with the number of drownings more than quadrupling between 2015 and 2019.

And a tragic beginning to the holiday season has prompted calls for caution on New Zealand’s perilous beaches.

This year, three people have died over the Christmas holiday break – presumed to have drowned – with two Christmas Day drownings in Northland.

And Perry Meehan, 60, died after getting into trouble in surf at Onemana on Boxing Day, the first drowning at Waikato beaches this summer.

Recent immigrants and males – especially over 45 or aged 18-35 – were most at risk of drowning, according to Surf Life Saving NZ.

And Coromandel beaches are known to be deceptively inviting.

In December 2017, Aucklandbased Taiwanese national Chen, 25, was on a stag weekend with friends, when the group decided to jump off the cliff and into the sea.

Chen, known as ‘‘Benny’’, quickly got into trouble after jumping into the water, according to Coroner Michael Robb’s report.

He began calling for help and a friend jumped off the rocks to help.

He began dragging Chen by the armpits towards the rock face.

‘‘Benny was by this time unresponsive and the waves continually washed over Benny and his friend’s face,’’ the report said.

The sea swell and currents hampered the friend’s efforts, who quickly became too tired.

‘‘Eventually Benny’s friend had to let go in order to prevent himself from drowning.’’

Chen’s body was found underwater, near the cliffs.

At Coromandel beaches, ‘‘exceptionally’’ strong rips, steep, deep waters and deceptively beautiful seas get people into trouble, Surf Life Saving NZ eastern manager Chase Cahalane said.

‘‘The east coast beaches quite often don’t look as ferocious as, for example, on the west coast.

‘‘Anecdotally, I think it is an underestimation of the conditions, whilst overestimating their own capabilities.

‘‘I think we see a lot of people getting in trouble because of that. For those people that are not as capable at swimming, they can end up panicking quite quickly.’’

The conditions in Onemana on Thursday had been ‘‘challenging’’, Cahalane said. The lifeguards who tried to save and revive Meehan were ‘‘understandably shaken up’’.

‘‘It is an exceptionally hard day at

the office when you are involved in a critical incident. Particularly when it results in a fatality.’’

All three drownings over the Christmas break were tragedies, Surf Life Saving NZ northern region chief executive Matt Williams said.

Rock and crab fishers were among the most at-risk demographics in the northern region, he said.

The organisation was also determined to raise awareness around water danger for those new to the country.

‘‘They see this beautiful coast they want to explore but they don’t yet have our safety message.’’

Sadly, it was often those trying save someone that got into the most trouble, he said.

‘‘What normally ends up happening is the person who was originally the victim survives and the person who went to rescue them gets into trouble.’’

In October last year, a grandfather died after trying to save two young girls – close family friends – who were being swept out by a current at Hot Water Beach.

Angelo Tuyay, a 58-year-old Filipino national who lived in Ngatea, was found to have drowned, possibly precipitated by a cardiac event, according to the coroner’s findings.

He ran into the sea to help the girls, reaching them and pushing them back to shore before disappearing underwater, Coroner Gordon Matenga said in his findings. Tuyay could not be revived. ‘‘Mr Tuyay’s death was a heroic attempt by him to save [the girls] from being swept further out to sea and possibly drowning.’’

According to Water Safety NZ figures, in 2019 there were 71 drownings before Christmas.

‘‘Kiwis need to take personal responsibility and respect the water no matter what activity they are undertaking,’’ Water Safety NZ chief executive Jonty Mills said.

‘‘Our waters are welcoming but can be incredibly unforgiving.’’