The man who led a rescue operation to retrieve a young girl who survived a cliff plunge at Hāhei which claimed a young boy’s life has described the distressing scene which confronted first responders.

While the tragedy did not occur on a Department of Conservation (DoC) walking track, it has been revealed large numbers of visitors to the area are still using pedestrian access between Hāhei and the Coromandel tourist hotspot Cathedral Cove, despite its closure due to land instability following Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023.

It is understood the pair were part of a larger group spending time on the beach prior to the tragedy unfolding on Saturday evening.

They had scrambled up a cliff path before the boy, aged 13, fell, plunging down the bank and suffering unsurviveable injuries.

The girl was stuck on the cliff for more than three hours with emergency services working late into the night to bring her down safely. She was rescued uninjured.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand Hamilton senior station officer Colin Kenner said his team were alerted about 8.30pm on Saturday as fire crews from Hāhei and Tairua asked for assistance.

Kenner and his team made the trip from Hamilton by road.

He said the girl had not moved from her perch on the cliff as his team set up abseiling equipment at the summit, about 100m above Hāhei Beach.

Kenner said he could not comment on any details regarding the deceased but said the girl was in “good shape considering what she had been through”.

A helicopter winch was not an option due to the tricky nature of the terrain and dense shrub.

“We abseiled to her and put a special harness on her; it went smoothly.”

Kenner said the Tairua and Hāhei brigades had the area well surveyed and set up by the time his team arrived for the rescue.

“It had some challenges in terms of making our way through the shrub.”

The northern end of Hāhei Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula, where the tragedy happened. A young boy died after falling off the cliff. Photo / Al Williams

He described it as a basic line rescue, just outside the scope for the Tairua and Hāhei brigades.

“They asked us to come and assist, we had one person abseil down, it was 100 metres of line in total, we were about 60 metres up from the track at the top, and we picked her up about 15 metres from the bottom.

“She was not injured and obviously in quite a bit of shock and tired, the ambulance took her away.”

He said they were at the scene about 10.30pm and wrapped up about midnight.

“It was distressing and obviously a tragic incident, it was distressing for all those on the scene.”

Kenner said he did not know how the girl had got to the location where she was rescued.

“The information is that she had climbed from the bottom [of the cliff].”

Kenner thanked all first responders involved in the operation.

“Everyone did a terrific job in dealing with a tragic incident ... I take my hat off to them, it was confronting.”

Popular beach closed two years ago due to storm damage

Cathedral Cove was reopened on December 1 after land access to the popular beach was closed to the public in February 2023, when it was extensively damaged by extreme weather events including Cyclone Gabrielle.

In July, the track received a $5 million boost for a rebuild as part of a $25m tourist levy injection.

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka confirmed the package as a “short-term fix” for Cathedral Cove.

DoC yesterday confirmed the Hāhei Beach to Grange Rd walking track, which connects Hāhei to Cathedral Cove, was closed.

It also confirmed there had been ongoing issues with signage being removed and vandalised at the site.

The New Zealand Herald visited the site yesterday and observed numerous people using the walking track to access Cathedral Cove from Hāhei.

Signage at the Hāhei Beach carpark said the walking track was closed, but there was no visible signage at the beach access to the walking track, at the north end of Hāhei Beach.

DoC operations director Hauraki-Waikato-Taranaki Tinaka Mearns confirmed the beach access point formed part of track, which was closed due to land instability.

“In addition to on-site signage, information on the closure is provided on our website and via social media; we also have rangers in the area who share information with visitors and advocate for responsible visitation.

“Unfortunately, DoC has had issues with signage being removed and vandalised at this site; when signage is removed, we replace it and appreciate ongoing community support in reporting this.”

Mearns said DoC was deeply saddened by the weekend’s tragedy.

“Our thoughts are with the affected family and friends.

“The incident did not occur on a DoC track, including the Cathedral Cove tracks; detailed questions about the incident will need to be referred to police, and in circumstances like this our role is to support police as necessary.

“This is primarily a police matter, and subject to a coroner’s process, and so and we have no further comment.”

Cathedral Cove under pressure from soaring visitor numbers

In October, DoC staff highlighted problems with graffiti, vandalism, unsavoury behaviour, litter and defecation at Cathedral Cove.

DoC Cathedral Cove project manager Tania Short said graffiti left by visitors, including carvings that were quite deep, was a problem at Cathedral Cove.

Toileting issues were also causing concern with visitors defecating in the bush and beach areas, consequently taking DoC rangers away from their core responsibilities in order to clean up the mess.

Their concerns followed announcements that tourists were hampering contractor efforts to get Cathedral Cove walking access reinstated. DoC staff and contractors were turning away dozens of visitors every day.

Short said DoC, along with local iwi Ngāti Hei, would look at better respecting Cathedral Cove.

“With increasing visitor numbers comes more work for rangers; it needs to be a community approach in preparing our visitors.

“We are looking for a long-term sustainable plan, a future adaptive investment plan.

“We have to be agile, we are dealing with climate change, is the track going to last and what does it cost?”

DoC had received a number of quotes for permanent access reinstatement to Cathedral Cove and they were “eye-watering”, Short said.

“So much local effort goes into one site, most of what we are doing is about behavioural change; visitor behaviours are causing us stress.

“We are trying to avoid regulatory measures and seeing what we can do as a community in the early stages.”

Short said it was DoC’s intention to implement measures over summer to manage visitor pressure.

That included changes when Cathedral Cove reopened on December 1 with a shuttle and car drop-off area at the Grange Rd entrance.

There was no parking and no buses allowed on site, as DoC wanted to limit damage to the road.

A range of monitoring methods would be in place to gather data, including cameras, trek counters, visitor surveys and QR codes.

There would also be monitoring of toilet waste to help determine visitor numbers, along with ranger observation.