AUCK LAND: A teenager who went missing on Tuesday on a school trip to New Zealand’s Auckland caverns has been found dead.
Despite extensive flooding in the Auckland region, the BBC said, he was one of 17 people who travelled to the Abbey Caves.
Around 14 pupils and two professors managed to escape safely from the original trap that they were in. The 16-year-old youngster went missing.
Despite not being formally identified, New Zealand police said the body was found late on Tuesday local time.
After intense rains left cars stuck, uprooted trees and interrupted public transit, Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, declared a state of emergency.
However, most previously blocked roads were restored on Wednesday, and public transit was running.
Three subterranean caverns on the upper North Island called The Abbey Caverns have limestone outcrops and sinkholes. The cave system is vulnerable to sudden floods.
Police Superintendent Tony Hill said on Wednesday, “We understand this event has been extremely difficult for the school and wider community and that there are plenty of questions the public will have.”
“Right now, police are concentrating on providing assistance to those affected,” he added.
The event has prompted inquiries about why the school excursion proceeded despite weather warnings of heavy rain.
The students were from Whangarei Boys’ High School. The school’s principal, Karen Gilbert-Smith, posted on the school’s Facebook page on Wednesday, saying: “It is essential for me to let you know how devastated we are that one of our whanau [family] have lost a much loved, and valued, son and brother.”
“Our school staff, students, and community are all still reeling from the effects of this tragedy.”
This year has already seen a number of extreme weather incidents in the Auckland area of New Zealand.
With some locations receiving up to 35mm (1.3in) of rain in a single hour, it received 90% of its typical annual rainfall from January to April.
