Hahei beach, Hahei, Coromandel Peninsula. Photo: AFP
A person has died after being found at the bottom of a Coromandel cliff.
Emergency services were called to Hahei Beach about 8.15pm on Saturday and a person was located at the bottom of the cliff face in a critical condition, however, they later died at the scene, police said.
Another person was trapped on the cliff but uninjured and later rescued by a Fire and Emergency Lines Rescue Team.
St John said it sent one first response unit, one ambulance and one helicopter to the scene.
Hahei Beach is south east of Whitianga, and a popular Coromandel Peninsula summer holiday destination.
The death will be referred to the coroner.
Tim Bright, skipper for Coromandel tour boat Hahei Explorer, said the landscape was very rocky.
"[There is] kind of dense bush at the top of the cliff, so if you were going through it you'd only be able to see maybe a metre, two metres in front of you at a time," he told RNZ.
"The rocks themselves are fairly crumbly, so yeah you don't want to go too close to the cliff edges."
Bright said there was signage around the cliffs of Cathedral Cove to warn trampers to keep to the path.
"The track to Cathedral Cove, that's totally safe and if you stay on the track you're fine.
"There are track signs saying, you know, stick to the track. There is a track from the Cathedral Cove lookout back down to the beach, but that has been closed by DOC (the Department of Conservation) with multiple fences, signs, everything like that."
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