Saturday, 15 April 2017 - 10:37pm |
Bay of Plenty

Teenager rescued after becoming trapped on cliff (+PHOTO)

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News article photos, audio and videos (1 items)

NZ Police

Please attribute to Sergeant Craig Madden:

Tauranga Police and volunteers from across the community have tonight rescued a 17-year-old girl who was stuck on a cliff in the Omanawa Gorge, south of Tauranga.

At approximately 3:20pm Police received a report that the teen had become lost.

Police, in a combined effort with volunteers from Tauranga LandSAR and the NZ Response Team Tauranga NZ-RT16, set out to try and find the girl.

Three volunteers and the girl’s father began to search from the bottom of the cliffs while other searchers looked along the top of the cliff line.

The crews at the top made voice contact with the teenager but couldn’t sight her so at 6:20pm a volunteer was lowered over the edge on a rope system.

He soon located her and put her into a harness so she could be pulled up the cliff.

By the time this process was completed and the volunteer was also lifted back up, it had got dark and was no longer safe for the four searchers at the bottom of the cliff to walk out of the gorge.

For that reason, the ropes were then used to pull the four remaining people up the cliff face.

The rescue ended up taking several hours but was completed successfully thanks to a great team effort.

The girl’s mother Maree would like to express her recognition for the teams that rescued her daughter.

“They are amazing people, especially as they are volunteers taking their time out on a long weekend,” she says.

Police would like to thank LandSAR and NZ-RT16 for their help in this event.

ENDS

Issued by Police Media Centre

Media note: The girl’s mother is happy to speak with media about the incident, please contact the Police Media Centre to get contact details.

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