Auckland Council will conduct a safety review at Hunua Falls after the swimming hole claimed another life.
A 13-year-old boy drowned yesterday afternoon after he got into trouble while swimming with family at the popular waterfall south of Auckland.
It is the second drowning in just over a week at Hunua, and Franklin local board chair Andrew Baker says it’s time to act.
"We have to understand what it is that’s the root cause behind it. Understand that and we can work some way to mitigate that or to stop it."
Auckland Council spokesman Mace Ward says people need to be careful when swimming at Hunua Falls.
"It is slippery and it drops off very quickly, so we'd rather people didn't swim at all in the falls," he says.
"The Hunua Falls are extremely deep and cold, and the fresh water doesn’t have the same buoyancy as salt water that some people may be used to," he says.
Ten days ago, a 17-year-old man drowned at the falls and there was a near-drowning at the same spot in February.
Surf Life Saving Northern Regions chief executive Matt Williams joined Paul Henry to talk about why New Zealand’s drowning rates are so high.
He says the vast majority of Kiwis get it and know how to be safe, but a small percentage are not following basic rules of water safety.
