Teen dies at falls | Northland News | Local News in Northland

A Northland teenager is dead after jumping off a 24m-high waterfall  - the third water-related death in Northland in little more than a week.

He was Robert Fox, from Donnellys Crossing, near Dargaville.

The young man's family gathered at a lookout at the top of Wairua Falls, west of Whangarei, on Saturday as a police dive squad recovered  his body from the bottom of a  7m-deep pool at the base.

It took less than 30 minutes for the divers to find Mr Fox.

Whangarei police Constable James Calvert said the 18-year-old had gone to the falls with his cousins at about 5pm on New Year's Day.

The group -  in their late teens - had all successfully leapt from the falls several times before. Mr Fox had appeared to lose his footing before he jumped,  he said.

His cousins told police  he had launched feet first but - because he was off balance - his head had drifted forward and he had hit the water face-first with considerable impact.

 Mr Fox was seen lying face down in the water with bubbles around him after he hit the water.

 He had made no attempt to swim or resurface and quickly sank, Mr Calvert said.

His cousins dived in to pull him out but could not get to him and his body remained in the water until the police dive squad arrived from Wellington on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Calvert said it was a tragic event.

"Every New Year's from now on that's all those kids are going to remember," he said.

Representatives of local iwi, Te Parawhau, also gathered near the waterfall and were to place a rahui on the section of river for at least seven days after the body was found.

Kaumatua Hori George Tuhiwai said it was the first time in living memory that someone had died at the falls. The site, which Maori referred to as Omiru, was significant because it had been a major defensive point for the iwi during inter-tribal warfare, he said.

"There are a lot of spirits here," he said. He said it was not a popular swimming spot. "The locals don't use it ... we don't even swim in it. She's dangerous."

The death came just four days  after  55-year-old Auckland man Jackie Maynard Wiki lost his life at the Bluff, on  Ninety Mile Beach, after leaping into the water to save his grandchildren, and just over a week after a  4-year-old Whangarei boy, Laylyn Taurere, drowned in Waro Lake at Hikurangi.
 
 According to Water Safety New Zealand, 13 people had drowned in Northland last year, five more than 2008, before Tuesday's tragedy.