Tragedy

It was with sadness yesterday afternoon, that we learned that a school party had got into difficulties while visiting a cave as part of their outdoor education component. Fifteen students and two adults had gone into the cave, only 14 students and the two adults came out. Apparently, the group had been caught by rising flood waters in the cave and the missing student had been washed away. His body was found late last night. My heart goes out to the family of that boy and to all those affected by this tragedy.

The council warns on their website to take care during heavy rains as that cave is prone to flooding at such times. We heard that the group was scheduled for rock climbing, but changed instead to caving, after learning of the heavy rain forecast for Tuesday. It seems ludicrous that anyone would enter a cave during heavy rain, especially one known for flooding. One can only believe that someone had thought, naively, that caving might be drier and thus a better option in wet weather.

My reason for writing about this this morning is for several reasons. The school involved was the same one where my children received their secondary education. I used to do a lot of caving myself as a child, having grown up in the Waitomo district. To me, entering a flood-prone cave during rain is the most basic common sense. That does not happen. But also, similar tragedies have occurred in the past. In 2008 six students and one teacher died when a school group entered a canyon in the Tongariro National Park, and flood waters, from further afield, washed them away. And again in 2012, in New Plymouth, where I was living at the time, two students and a teacher drowned during a school group outing after trying to traverse the Paritutu rock. I had only looked out my window a few minutes earlier and noticed the atrocious weather. All these events happened as part of the students’ outdoor education component of their curriculum and in my opinion were all poor calls.

But I also want to talk about the ramifications of this latest tragedy. Somebody made that call to take that party into the cave. But where does the buck stop? Is it with the person who made that call, the adults who accompanied the children, the school principal? Every single student and teacher at that school would be feeling the pain today, and especially those students who were part of the ill-fated group. And imagine how the parents of that child must be feeling.

When something like this happens, it does not just affect those present but everyone who knew that boy or who attended that school and all the teachers and parents of all the children from the school. Those who sit on the board of trustees will also be feeling it.

I am going to take a step further now and try and look at this from the bigger picture. As I have been rehearsing my speech for the Mind, Body event, I mention how there is always a bigger picture at play. In this case it is huge, because it involves so many people. But I do believe that on some level, it will be something playing itself out from the past. People will need to resolve their feelings of guilt and forgive themselves. There will be people who will be feeling angry and have to forgive those involved. Then there are the main ones, the family of the boy who was washed away. All their feelings of loss and possibly anger, will have to be worked through. A tragedy such as this provides a catalyst for so many people to heal parts of themselves, though no one would choose to do it in this way.

But that healing and those insights take time. There will be so much grief around today and in the next few months. Even I am feeling the horror of this tragedy, as I suspect that people throughout our country are. To the family, we send our love and condolences. May you find strength at this difficult time.