Car wrecks removed from river
Four vehicle wrecks have been retrieved from the Whanganui River in a week-long operation near Koriniti.
A number of agencies collaborated to lift the disintegrating and mangled chassis from the riverbed. They included New Zealand Police, Horizons Regional Council, Whanganui iwi, Whanganui District Council and Department of Conservation.
Whanganui Area Police, the Police National Dive Squad and a member of the Auckland Maritime Unit were part of the effort, providing underwater search-and-recovery expertise along with surface safety and support.
The operation, which started on Monday, April 12, was preceded by a po¯ whiri at Koriniti Marae, close to where the clean-up took place.
“This was an opportunity to be part of a combined effort to build connection with our communities and help support the wellbeing of the awa, by providing police practical know-how,” Whanganui Police area commander Nigel Allan said.
“The river is a spiritual and physical entity that is integral to and sustains the wellbeing of our communities. As police we share a community responsibility to uphold the health and wellbeing of the awa.
“By helping to remove wrecks, we hope we’ve contributed in a small way to the health and wellbeing of the awa and through this the health and wellbeing of our communities.
“We have made a collective commitment as an area to build our understanding of Tupua Te Kawa [the values that represent Te Awa Tupua], and to uphold those values — it is a privilege to be able to demonstrate that commitment in a very practical way.
“A big thanks to mana whenua for their ongoing support, our partner agencies and all police staff involved in this exercise with a special acknowledgment to Senior Constable Keith Thomson for bringing this all together.”
Divers worked in zero-visibility conditions to locate the vehicles and mark them with buoys. The team then attached cables and chains so the rusty remains could be hoisted out by crane.
For the dive squad members, the work doubled as an annual exercise to maintain and sharpen their specialist skills.
“A lot of the time callouts involve grim circumstances. But this was quite a different operation,” national operations support manager Inspector Freda Grace said.
“It’s a beautiful awa which deserves to be healthy. Being involved both challenged the squad and allowed us all to give back.