Teacher dies trying to save students
The teacher killed in New Zealand’s gorge tragedy has been hailed a hero for trying to rescue a student as a flash flood hit, the New Zealand Press Association has reported.
Teacher Tony McClean, 29, and six students, all 16, were killed when they were washed away after entering a narrow gorge near the centre of the North Island yesterday.
NZPA reported a friend of Mr McClean, who would only identify herself as Helen, said she’d been told he and an instructor from the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre had tried to rescue students when the waters hit.
“Apparently he had a child, they tell us, on his back, as did the instructor have a child on her back, as they were trying to get out with the kids,” she told radio station Newstalk ZB. (news)
