'Incredible there were survivors' after bach hit by landslide, doctor says

Thursday, 2 February 2023

First responders on the scene after a bach collapsed in Auckland's south.

Doctors involved in an hours-long rescue operation after a bach collapsed when hit by a landslide say it is “incredible” there were survivors.

A house in Orua Bay, in the rural Auckland township of Manukau Heads, was left “splintered” on the beach after being taken out by a slip on Wednesday afternoon, leaving three people injured – two seriously.

Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter critical care flight paramedic Ross Aitken and emergency doctor Dr Gary Payinda were on the first of two helicopters to arrive at Orua Bay, about 12.20pm.

With no direct road access (the scene was accessible only by beach), Aitken and Payinda had to be winched down, one at a time, about 24 metres to the beach.

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An elderly woman was trapped for more than two hours after a landslide took out a holiday home on Orua Bay Beach on Wednesday. An emergency doctor involved in the rescue says it is lucky there were survivors.

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Given all the loose debris, air crew had to be careful to choose points that wouldn’t compromise their safety.

The damage visible on Thursday morning was “unbelievable”, one resident told Stuff.

As they arrived, two patients were being given “really good” first aid by volunteer fire crews and bystanders – one was severely injured, while another sustained moderate injuries.

Aitken said they were shown to the collapsed structure, where a third person was trapped a “couple of metres” under the rubble and seriously injured. The woman was talking, but could not get out.

Fire crews brought in USAR (urban search and rescue teams) via helicopter and hovercroft, loaned from Auckland Airport for the rescue, to extricate her.

USAR was ensuring not just the patients’ life could be saved, but that the rescuers’ lives wouldn’t be threatened – they played a “really important role in making it possible”, Aitken said.

About eight different agencies responded to the emergency incident on Wednesday afternoon.

It took two hours for crews to free the woman from the collapsed house. Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust said the woman, in her 80s, was taken to Middlemore Hospital in a critical condition.

The patient was in a stable condition on Thursday morning.

The damage to the structure was significant and “it’s pretty incredible there were survivors”, Payinda said.

Payinda said the response – on his second-to-last day as a doctor with the trust – was “amazing”, involving 8-9 different agencies and between 30-40 individuals.

Three people were injured in the incident, two seriously and one moderately.

Witnessing healthcare and rescue agencies working together to help people was “the best of New Zealand”, he said.

“It [was] the response you would want if it was your family in that house.”

Aitken echoed this, saying fire service and USAR remained there hours after the patients were taken to hospital making the area secure.

“It’s pretty amazing what these volunteer crews [and those behind the scenes] do for their community.”

Franklin ward councillor Andy Baker was at Orua Bay on Wednesday afternoon as the owners and workers were “madly” cleaning up against a rising tide.

The bach was a “pile of smashed house, really”.

All that remained was a mix of mud, bits of walls, broken trees and items from inside the house.

Parts of a bathroom – cleaning products and all – clothing items and furniture were jutting out from the mud.

Local resident Julia Patterson was assessing her own house when she learnt about the damage down the beach.

It wasn’t until Thursday that she managed to go and look at it.

“One word – unbelievable.”

Baker said the owners, who live elsewhere in Auckland, were “devastated by what’s happened”.

They’d had the holiday home for about 12 years, which they also rented out to holidaymakers – as was the case on Wednesday.

“They were really quite emotional, and really caring” for those involved, and had visited them in hospital, he said.

Baker said some properties were stickered by building inspection teams following the slip.

For hours on Wednesday afternoon, crews were down on the beach with 4WDs, diggers and tractor-trailers, carting rubble to Gap Rd, to be collected and taken to landfill in Whitford on Thursday, Baker said.

As the tide came in, the sand softened, hampering further clean-up efforts.

Crews “kept going as long as they could” and knocked off about 5pm, “with water lapping halfway up the tracks of the digger”.

During the clean-up, Baker recovered a couple of items of significance sitting on the beach to give to the owners: the bach’s visitor book and a picture from their daughter’s room.

Baker said the Franklin community was “very resilient”.

It had been “really heartwarming” to see how people rallied together in the wake of such devastation.