Police refused helicopter request after mistakenly thinking girl was dead

Thursday 18 December 2025 · 7 outlets · 3 reports · updated Thu 18 Dec 2025, 9:15am

In this story Fire and Emergency New Zealand

Firefighters requested a helicopter to rescue a 13-year-old girl from a Coromandel cliff face, but police refused the request. Police mistakenly believed the teenager was dead following an incident at Hahei beach in January. The girl remained stuck on the cliff for approximately four hours in the dark.

How they headlined it

8:09am9:15am

1. 1News via RNZThu 18 Dec 2025, 8:09am

   Police thought girl was dead, so refused chopper request (opens in new tab)

2. Otago Daily TimesThu 18 Dec 2025, 8:09am

   Police denied chopper request thinking girl dead (opens in new tab)

3. NZ HeraldThu 18 Dec 2025, 9:15am

   Police refused use of rescue chopper because they wrongly thought teenager was dead (opens in new tab)

   Also on Stuff (opens in new tab), Waikato Times (opens in new tab), RNZ (opens in new tab), The Post (opens in new tab)