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Susan Edmunds/Stuff
Abbey Caves Rd was blocked off by police following the incident.
Searchers working to locate a student missing in Abbey Caves, Whangārei, have recovered a body.
The search was expected to conclude around 5pm yesterday, however, specialist equipment that was brought up from Auckland allowed the search to continue for longer.
This helped enable searchers to locate a body, which was successfully recovered late yesterday evening.
As such, the search has now concluded.
Police first received a call about a group of 14 students from Whangārei Boys’ High School and two adults “in difficulty” in the cave at 10.26am on Tuesday.
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On Tuesday, Stuff revealed that the group caught up in the floodwaters were meant to be rock climbing, but bad weather had forced the trip underground instead.
In an email sent to parents last Friday, the school’s head of outdoor education Stevie Huurnink said that due to “forecasted rain” they had to modify “planned trips”.
“Initially, we had rock climbing scheduled. This has been changed to caving,” the email said.
Susan Edmunds/Stuff
A boat on the back of a fire ute arrived at Abbey Caves in the search for the missing boy on Tuesday afternoon.
Whangārei Boys’ High School principal Karen Gilbert-Smith took to social media on Tuesday afternoon to say that the event had been “hugely upsetting” for the school.
“An Outdoor Education class attended Abbey Caves this morning on a caving trip and encountered a severe weather event.
“One of our students is currently missing, Search and Rescue are currently searching for the young person.”
The rest of the group who came out of the cave were being supported by emergency workers from Search and Rescue and St John Ambulance, Gilbert-Smith said.
Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, Northland District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill called the incident “tragic”.
“Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the unaccounted for student and Family Liaison Officers and Victim Support have measures in place to look after them.
“The school is also being supported by the Ministry of Education’s Traumatic Incident Team,” Hill said.
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