An 11-year-old boy is lucky to be alive and relatively unscathed after falling down an uncovered manhole in Botany.
Dylan McKenzie was playing with friends at Logan Carr Reserve on Kilkenny Drive with a group of friends when he saw a sheet of plywood on the ground.
He picked it up with the aim of using it to make a hut with his friends; however he didn’t see the hole underneath.
“I didn’t know the manhole was there…then I fell 4.4 metres but didn’t break anything except my phone and I sprained my wrist,” says Dylan.
He recounts the events bravely now, but Dylan’s mother Paula McKenzie says the experience was traumatising for her son.
“He was actually really scared. He was having a sleepover at a friend’s house…when they got back to the house they rung me and said ‘can you come and pick me up’?
“He was scared of going to sleep the next couple of nights because of the dark…you can imagine how dark it would have been down there with a tiny bit of light just up the top.”
The Somerville Intermediate student said there was yellow warning tape around a nearby tree but he didn’t see it as he approached the plywood from the back of the tree.
Ms McKenzie says Auckland Council was “fantastic” upon learning of the incident, but told her they had no job references logged with the site and were not responsible for the temporary fix of plywood and warning tape — which begs the question, who was?
“Why didn’t they call the council and report it? Plywood is obviously not a solution.”
She says when Dylan initially told her about the fall, she took it with a grain of salt.
“I thought surely it can’t have been that deep but he took us to the park the next day and showed us and I just wanted to cry thinking ‘oh my god, you fell down that?!'”
Auckland Council has since retro-fitted the manhole Dylan fell down with a safety grille and replaced the cast iron lid on top.
In an email to Ms McKenzie, the council reassured her precautions had been put in place to prevent future incidents.
“The particular manhole in Logan Carr Reserve, Howick is in a secluded area under a large tree on the edge of the bush-clad gully that flows through the reserve. The manhole is approximately 4.4m deep. A pipe 875mm diameter passes through the manhole and its outlet to the watercourse is 13m away in the bush.
“We do not know how the lid was removed, however our contractor discovered plywood over the opening and caution tape around the tree. The cast iron lid has been re-installed and a safety grille fitted beneath the lid. Two more manholes on the large diameter pipes in the reserve will also be retrofitted with safety grilles.
“In 2013 and 2014 the council assessed its manhole assets through a specially developed risk profiling system which identified approximately 600 manholes for inspection. These were inspected, and many were found already to have been made safer by having more secure lids or safety grilles fitted, and 421 more across Auckland were fitted with these same safety treatments,” the email said.
Both Dylan and Mum are aware it could have been so much worse.
In October 2009, two-year-old Aisling Symes was found dead after falling down a stormwater drain in west Auckland a week after she was reported missing from her home.
While it’s a tough loss for Dylan losing his phone which he saved up his paper run money to buy his own cell phone, they’re in no doubt that he’s had a very lucky escape.
- Auckland Council has a 24/7 call centre where missing or displaced manholes should be reported immediately. Call 301 0101.
