Inquiries & Recommendations

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On Tuesday 20 October 1998, at approximately 1258 hours, the sliding doors on an Auckland to Waitakere commuter train closed on a child in a pushchair as the mother was endeavouring to lift the pushchair from the train to the platform at Swanson. While attempts were being made to free the pushchair the train moved slowly forward before the doors were opened sufficiently to allow the pushchair to be freed.

On Thursday 15 October 1998, at about 1407 hours, Train 9282, comprising 4 English Electric multiple unit cars running from Wellington to Johnsonville, derailed while negotiating the turnout from the up main to the down main at the south end of Wadestown.

[A preliminary investigation showed that the circumstances were not likely to have significant implications for transport safety. Consistent with section 13 of the TAIC Act the Commission discontinued the investigation and no report was published.]

On Tuesday, 6 October 1998, at about 0220, the Korean stern trawler "Dong Won 529" grounded on rocks at the southern end of Breaksea Islands, Stewart Island. Because of forecast bad weather, the vessel, with 39 crew on board, had been on passage from the Solander fishing grounds to more sheltered fishing grounds to the east of Stewart Island. Before the vessel could be refloated it slipped off the rocks and sank. There were no injuries. Safety issues identified included: • poor watchkeeping practices • preoccupation with non-watchkeeping duties

At about 1610 on Friday, 2 October 1998, the jet boat "Terminator" was proceeding at a speed of about 65 km/h down one of many secondary channels on a braided section of the Dart River, when the driver was confronted with an obstacle partially blocking a left hand turn in the channel. As the driver attempted to make the turn around the obstruction, his boat struck it, the driver lost control and the boat skidded sideways into a shingle bank and flipped, trapping some of the passengers beneath the boat. The 11 passengers plus the driver suffered minor to serious injuries.

On Wednesday 30 September 1998, Train 823 was running from Lyttelton to Ngakawau with a rake of 18 empty coal wagons. At approximately 2340 hours the train stopped on the down main adjacent to the Middleton marshalling yard (5 km west of Christchurch) and the locomotives were then detached for servicing. A few minutes after the locomotives had cut off, the wagons started moving in an easterly direction down the grade towards Christchurch. In the course of their movement the wagons crossed two protected level crossings where insufficient warning time for road traffic was provided.

On Thursday, 24 September 1998, at about 1710, the restricted-limit passenger catamaran "Scat Cat" foundered off Mokoia Island in Lake Rotorua. The vessel had been on a one-hour sight-seeing tour with two crew and seven passengers, including four children, on board. The passengers and crew abandoned the vessel and were rescued from lifefloats by two speedboats, one belonging to the owner of "Scat Cat" and the other to a colleague. One three-year-old passenger was detained in hospital overnight for observation for hypothermia. There were no other injuries.

On Monday 14 September 1998 at about 1152 hours, ZK-DKL, a Cessna 177B Cardinal on an air transport scenic flight across the Mount Cook region struck a snow-covered mountain face 11 km north-east of Mount Cook. The pilot and two passengers died as a result of the impact.

On Thursday, 10 September 1998, an on-track maintenance group had just finished packing up their two hi-rail vehicles for off-tracking when they noticed Train GR7, the EM80 track evaluation car, approaching from the north and approximately 2.7 km distant. The ganger managed to contact the locomotive engineer using the train control radio and the train was brought to a stop well clear of the hi-rail vehicles. The cause of the near collision was the drawing of a maintenance occupation on the train control diagram approximately 10 km south of its actual location.

At about 1710 on Saturday, 5 September 1998, the passenger sailing vessel "Phantom of the Straits" was engaged on a short sailing trip on Wellington Harbour when fire broke out near the engine enclosure. The fire was eventually extinguished, but not before the vessel had suffered extensive fire and smoke damage below decks. The skipper suffered from minor smoke inhalation; otherwise none of the four passengers or deck-hand were injured in the fire. Factors contributing to the fire included substandard features in the electrical and machinery installations on board the yacht.

[A preliminary investigation showed that the circumstances were not likely to have significant implications for transport safety. Consistent with section 13 of the TAIC Act the Commission discontinued the investigation and no report was published.]

On Wednesday, 25 August 1998 a number of 3.7 m long logs fell from the last wagon of a rake of loaded log wagons in Mount Maunganui railway yard. The loss of load occurred because the logs were not adequately restrained by the cradle supports at either end. A safety issue identified was the adequacy of the code covering the securing of 3.7 m logs on standard log wagons. The Commission investigated this incident because of the potential for displaced logs to endanger other trains and third parties adjacent to the track.