Two South African families who immigrated to New Zealand lost three of their children in a freak landslide as they played in a river at a popular picnic spot, it was reported on Sunday.
The parents watched helplessly on Friday evening as Callum Warrick Langley (10), his eight-year-old sister, Keryn, and Michael Keith Liengme (13) were hit by tonnes of rock in the Pohangina River, near Palmerston North.
Michael’s brother, Kevin (10), escaped with a minor leg injury.
The Liengmes and the Langleys are old friends from their South African hometown in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, who decided together three years ago to move to New Zealand, the Herald on Sunday reported.
Parents Neil and Vivienne Langley and Duncan and Margaret Liengme all work at schools in Manawatu province, north of Wellington.
The newspaper quoted a helicopter pilot called in to help as saying: ”The kids were not actually buried under all the gravel. It seemed like it was more like a shockwave; it must have come down very close to the kids.
”Maybe [the shockwave threw] them away, the pressure of the air … A lot of stuff came down, so it might have been a few rocks hitting here and there.”
The site remained closed on Sunday as the local council considered whether the picnic area was safe to reopen. — Sapa-dpa