Rock fall death 'extremely unlucky'

The chances of a 75-year-old retiree surviving a rockfall which crushed the car she was in, killing her, would have been "significantly improved" if the NZTA had carried out scheduled maintenance earlier, a coroner has found.

New Plymouth woman Heather Joy Thompson was travelling to a reunion in Waihi with her sister Nancy Gernhoefer when the hatchback they were travelling in was struck by rocks on State Highway 3, near Waitomo, on March 28.

In his findings, delivered today, Hamilton Coroner Peter Ryan said as the hatchback travelled down a moderate hill and passed a rock cutting, a section of the rock above the road slipped, causing several large boulders to cascade down onto the road below.

One of the boulders landed on the left side of the roof of Mrs Gernhoefer's vehicle, causing serious injuries to Mrs Thompson, the finding said.

Emergency services arrived to find Mrs Thompson in a critical condition, with significant trauma to her head and neck.

Ambulance officers could not detect a pulse and a doctor at Te Kuiti Hospital later confirmed that Mrs Thompson was dead.

Coroner Ryan noted in his finding that a New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) request for funding to investigate and remove hanging boulders in the area was lodged in July 2010.

However, the request was not approved as the site did not rate high enough within the national rockfall hazard rating versus available funding.

Mrs Thompson's ex-husband Graeme Thompson raised concerns that NZTA was aware of the hazards the bluff presented, but no preventative work was undertaken, the finding said.

Preventative maintenance had been undertaken on a reasonably regular basis since June 2000, but a large number of work requests went unapproved, particularly those involving a significant cost, Coroner Ryan said.

"It is unknown whether Mrs Thompson's death would have been prevented if the scheduled works had been completed earlier, but it is reasonable to infer that her chances of avoiding this incident would have been significantly improved if the works had been completed prior to 28 March 2014."

Following the incident, other large boulders had been removed from the site, which was now classed by the NZTA as being "as stable as reasonably practicable", Coroner Ryan said.

By Brendan Manning of APNZ

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