Sand collapsed under car of nurse who drowned while out whitebaiting
Tuesday, 24 August 2021
A nurse drowned while out bagging a plum spot to go whitebaiting when her vehicle slipped into a river and submerged with water.
Helen Wood, 62, died at Kairaki Beach at the mouth of Canterbury’s Waimakariri River on September 22, 2017.
A registered nurse at Christchurch Hospital for 45 years, Wood, a keen whitebaiter, had ventured out for a fishing trip and was setting up her whitebait trailer at about 9.30pm that day.
In a finding released this week, Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame said Wood could not back the trailer to the water’s edge, so to position it she drove her vehicle so close to the edge that its bonnet was over the water.
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Her blood alcohol level was almost four times the legal driving limit and her judgment and perception were impaired, the coroner said.
“At this point the river dropped off steeply. After uncoupling the trailer, Ms Wood returned to her vehicle and started it.
“It started to slide forward, and she was unable to stop the vehicle going into the water. The vehicle filled with water and she was unable to escape.
“The speed at which Ms Wood’s vehicle sank into the river after the bank collapsed illustrates how quickly even a minor misjudgment in the positioning of a vehicle can result in tragic consequences …
“Recreational fishers and whitebaiters should avoid drinking alcohol at all if they are intending to use their vehicles near sandy or otherwise unstable water edges.”
Evidence covered in the finding showed Wood had decided to sleep in her vehicle, a white Mitsubishi Airtrek station wagon, at the river to keep her spot before the “townies” arrived the next morning.
Whitebaiters who set up box nets must stay within 10 metres of them at all times and must dismantle them at the end of each fishing period.
About 9.30pm that day Mark Hanna arrived at Kairaki Beach to set up a whitebaiting spot for the next day.
He drove on to the beach from the car park and saw two red vehicle lights about 200m away.
He stated the lights looked bright, as if the vehicle’s brake lights were on, and saw the rear of a white station wagon disappear into the water “really quickly”.
The Coastguard crew located the car about half a metre under the water.
Wood’s trailer containing whitebaiting equipment and a “number” of wine bottles was at the water’s edge.
Coroner Cunninghame recommended the Water Safety New Zealand and the New Zealand Fishing News pass on her comments.
She also suggested there should be a better sign at Kairaki Beach explaining the dangers, and noted the Waimakariri District Council had already installed one.