U.S. tourist survives hour in blowhole

Press, 22 June 1985, Page 1

U.S. tourist survives hour in blowhole

Staff reporters

An American woman who fell into one of the Punakaiki blowholes north of Greymouth yesterday was in a “life or death” situation by the time a rescue team arrived, said the rescue co-ordinator, Mr Terry Sweetman.

Cynthia Gayle Neagle, aged 28, of Arizona,‘ was lucky to be alive after spending about an hour in the water, said Mr Sweetman from Greymouth last evening. “It was a miracle she survived the fall — another 20 minutes in the water and she wouldn’t have lasted. She couldn’t walk after we pulled her out of the hole,” he said.

Ms Neagle was reported in a comfortable condition in Grey Hospital last evening, suffering from hypothermia, a broken right elbow, and abrasions. Her ordeal began about 3.30 p.m. when she fell about 15 metres into the hole. She had apparently slipped while trying to take a photograph of members of her bus tour party, said Mr Sweetman. The blowholes, formed by seawater rushing into chasms and chambers below the rocks, are a popular tourist attraction. According to the local police, the only other person known to have fallen into the holes had drowned. Ms Neagle fell into the first blowhole on the southside of the main surge hole. It was fortunate the sea was

reasonably calm, although there was a swell of about 3m in the hole, said Mr Sweetman.

A lifebuoy at the top of the hole was thrown to Ms Neagle by onlookers, who tried to keep the buoy, attached by rope, in the centre of the hole. The police were alerted by the proprieter of the Punakaiki Tearooms, Mr John Keep, and called in the services of a Hokitika helicopter pilot, Mr Martin Nolan. Mr Nolan flew to Greymouth and picked up a three-member search and rescue team, headed by Mr Sweetman. “We got there at 4.45 p.m. by which time a large crowd had gathered. People were a bit panicky by then,” Mr Sweetman said. "It was a life-and-death situation. The minutes seemed like hours. We hooked a chain on to the helicopter, put one of the

team into a safety harness, and lowered him into the hole. He grabbed her and we pulled them out to the top of the hole.” Ms Neagle was coherent, but "frozen cold” when she got out of the sea, said Mr Sweetman. She had been knocked about in the swell and was grazed and bruised from the fall.

She was put into a sleeping bag and flown back to Greymouth Airport where an ambulance was waiting. Mr Sweetman said they had considered using the Otira face-rescue team, but to rescue Ms Neagle by using a cable would have been difficult. Some of the onlookers had tried to climb down into the hole, but could only get half-way before being confronted with a 9m sheer drop, he said. After the helicopter arrived, the rescue took four or five minutes, Mr Sweetman said.