Mount man drowned helping son

A Mount Maunganui man drowned after going to the aid of his son at the base of Rere Rockslide in Gisborne, a coroner's report has found.

Myungshoo Shin, a Korean national living in The Mount with his wife and two children, died in circumstances that Coroner Tim Scott describes as 'unfortunate and bad luck”.


The post-mortem of a Korean man living in Mount Maunganui showed he drowned after going to the aid of his son at a popular swimming spot in Gisborne.

Myungshoo and his wife were visiting the Gisborne area with friends Jinahee Choi Weon Wook Lee and his wife Jin Hee Choi on Sunday, May 18, 2014.

The families had decided to visit the Rere Rockslide after reading about it on the internet, and despite the coldness of the water, the two older children of the group insisted on going down the rockslide.

Tim says the parents agreed and there may have been some sort of pressure from the children.

The slide is formed by a river flowing across a relatively wide rock slab which appears to be at about a 40-degree angle and about 20-to-25 meters long.

At the bottom of the rock slab there is a pool that ranges in depth from one to three metres.

Tim says the two older children went down the slide and appear to have found the slide more challenging than anticipated.

'Both children ended up in the pool as expected but at some point the children and the adults realised part of the pool was deeper than expected,” he says.

'It was over the children's heads. Jin Hee said her son could swim a little but the other child could not swim.

'Fathers of both the children went to help the boys. Weon could not swim but he nevertheless walked into the pool up to about his chest.”

His son was able to swim over to him and they both got out of the pool.

Tim says Myungshoo was apparently a good swimmer and he went to the aid of his son, who was not a good swimmer. His son was further out in the pool than Weon's son.

'Weon thought everyone was safe and by the time he turned back after passing his son to his wife, he could no longer see Myungshoo,” adds Tim

Myungshoo's body was found later that night by a police dive squad, about 25 metres from the western side of the pool.

He was described as being in the classic drowning position – face down in the water with his hands at his side.

A post-mortem revealed Myungshoo had drowned. There was nothing to suggest he had died as a result of anything else.

'There are risks associated with doing anything,” says Tim. 'It would be a sad day – and an unrealistic day – if gross over-restrictions were placed upon people having fun.

'It doesn't seem to me there is anything particularly dangerous about the Rere Fall or the rockslide.

'I don't think these two families did anything particularly extreme or unusual, although it probably would have been a good idea for them to have checked the pool depth before the children went down the slide.

'I think what happened here was simply unfortunate and bad luck.”

In view of Myungshoo's death, Tim believes the physical sign of the pool and the narrative on the website in which the families read about the pool, should contain a stronger warning.

He adds: 'I believe this warning should include a brief reference to the fact that a drowning had happened at this location and considerable caution needs to be exercised by swimming or using the rockslide.

'I don't want to be a killjoy but I think people using the rockslide or the pool are entitled to know there is a danger and that someone lost their life there.”

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