Three New Zealanders confirmed dead after Samoa tsunami
Friday, 2 October 2009
Three New Zealanders have been confirmed as killed in the Pacific tsunami, with another presumed dead and grave concerns held for two others.
The only New Zealander so far identified is Mary Ann White, 54, of Raglan, whose family was trying last night to get her body home.
The New Zealand Air Force is tonight flying 14 injured New Zealanders home from Samoa as the death toll mounts from Wednesday's devastating Pacific tsunami.
The injured are being accompanied by six family members, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.
They are expected to arrive at Auckland's Whenuapai Airport early tomorrow morning and will then be transported by a fleet of ambulances to local hospitals for treatment.
Acting Prime Minister Bill English said earlier today that three Britons and two Germans who were also injured would also be evacuated.
The confirmed death toll from Wednesday's tsunamis, caused by an 8 magnitude undersea quake, stood at 149 in Samoa, 31 on American Samoa and nine on neighbouring Tonga.
There were initially reports that a two-year-old Auckland boy had been officially identified as one of those killed. This is incorrect, and it is understood he remains missing, presumed dead.
The toddler was swept out to sea as he was playing on the beach with his parents at Lalomanu when the 6m wave came ashore on Wednesday. His parents swam to safety.
MFAT earlier confirmed it was providing support to the toddler's parents.
They were taken to hospital yesterday with minor injuries and later discharged and are staying at the New Zealand High Commission in Samoa.
The husband and wife, originally from Britain, now live in Auckland. The family was holidaying at a resort near the village of Lalomanu. Tsunami warnings were given and they were trying to escape to higher ground when the waves struck.
Plans are underway to medi-vac injured New Zealanders on a RNZAF plane to New Zealand as soon as possible.
GRAVE CONCERNS
MFAT says grave fears are held for two New Zealanders who had been staying at the Taufua Resort, Lalomanu. The ministry has not released details of the pair.
However, the Martin family of Wardville, outside Matamata, was this morning preparing to fly out to Samoa in search of their two daughters who flew to Samoa on Monday for a holiday.
The sisters, Petria, 22 and Rebecca, 24, were holidaying with their cousin, a Hamilton travel agent and her friend, and had been due back tomorrow.
Lynne Martin said this morning that there was still no news on her daughters' whereabouts. She said her daughters were staying at a resort on the south side of Upolu Island, one of those hit by the tsunami.
Mrs Martin and her husband Kerry were booked on a 12.30pm flight from Auckland to Samoa to help search for them.
She remained positive that they would arrive to good news.
Mr Martin, a dairy farmer, said that the family, together with their two other daughters, Kristi Bell and youngest Zoe, got the news Petria and Rebecca were missing in a phone call about 10.30am yesterday.
Mr Martin said his niece, who had survived the tidal wave together with her friend, was too distraught to ring and asked another holidaymaker to call.
'Another chap that was at the resort rang for her to tell us that my niece and her friend were ok but my two girls were missing,' Mr Martin said.
'It was great to get that news but it wasn't the news we were looking for.'
He said the caller was very upset and could not explain much of what happened.
'He just said it was absolute chaos, they all got split up.'
The family immediately called Internal Affairs to list the young women as missing and by early this morning were still waiting to hear.
'We're really hoping for the best but it's sort of starting to look like it mightn't be.'
Rebecca, who lives in Hamilton and teaches at Rototuna Primary School, and Petria, a Matamata resident and team leader at the town's sports centre, both grew up in Matamata with their older and younger sisters.
RECOVERY SCENE
Amidst some anger at the lack of resources available to rescuers, the New Zealand Air Force jet carrying Mr New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully recently flew overhead at Lalomanu.
The bodies of the Auckland toddler and a white woman have been recovered at the scene today.
Officials at the scene told Stuff.co.nz that they're so short of resources that they're having to use ditch diggers. 'And you know what they do to bodies,' an official said.
'The bodies are coming out of rubble that's about three or four metres deep and it's almost impenetrable and things are having to be pulled out by hand,' he said.
The work is going on in blinding heat. A distinct smell of decaying bodies now permeates the area.
A Samoan navy vessel boat was also working the waters today where 16 bodies were found yesterday.
Authorities in Samoa say that in this small area, there are still four people unaccounted for.
The death toll is around 150 – 110 in Samoa, 31 in American Samoa and seven in Tonga – but is expected to grow much higher. Hundreds are missing.
A New Zealand man living in Samoa was also killed when the vehicle he was driving in rolled when the road, weakened by the tsunami, gave way, trapping and killing him and three other occupants.
HUNDREDS OF NEW ZEALANDERS UNACCOUNTED FOR
MFAT said it was unable to release more information about the other New Zealanders killed without permission from their families.
MFAT said that 796 New Zealanders were now confirmed as being alive and well and 200 others were still being sought to confirm their well being.
The High Commission in Apia was checking on another 231, an MFAT spokesman said.
There was a new phone number for New Zealanders concerned about family members: 0800 432 111.
This has been changed to encourage people to report those they have concerns about and for people who have heard from their loved ones so a list of accounted for people can be updated.
* A report carried on Stuff.co.nz that injured tsunami victims were to be flown in to Palmerston North Hospital today is incorrect.
An Australian Air Force aircraft is flying into Ohakea Air Base, but a MidCentral District Health Board media release saying they were expecting patients on the flight was incorrect.
Palmerston North Hospital has stood down from its state of emergency readiness. It was prepared to handle an influx of up to 10 injured people.
Defence communications staff confirmed the plane was arriving, but said nobody injured was on board. The staff member did not know why or how the hospital had thought injured people were arriving.
Palmerston North Hospital communications staff said a press release would be issued shortly.
- With NZPA, Waikato Times and Manawatu Standard