Rescue Close When Canyoner Nick Delaney Died

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Rescue close when canyoner Nick Delaney died in Blue mountains
The Daily Telegraph
January 16, 2010

CANYONER Nick Delaney had survived two days lost in the Blue Mountains and just when rescue was hours away a falling boulder killed him.
Police yesterday spoke of the rock fall which claimed the 15-year-old Sydney Church of England Grammar School student who had written on his Facebook page he was "destined to be king".

He had spent Tuesday in the Wollangambe canyon with his brother Chris Delaney, 27, cousin Allan Delaney, 13, and sisters Jo and Beth Wilcock.

They were reported missing when they failed to return home on Tuesday night.

Police said the group had been lost for two days and had finally made it to high ground where they hoped to be seen by rescuers when tragedy struck.

"Looking at where they were, they were going for higher ground and they had got to the highest ground," Senior Constable Matt Cavanagh said.


"To get where they were going they had scaled a really steep incline."

The ridge top was lined with boulders and Sen-Constable Cavanagh said one had "more or less dislodged and fallen off", killing the teenager.

Nick's body was eventually recovered and flown out of the rugged bushland by helicopter yesterday after a bid to reach his body on foot was frustrated by impenetrable terrain.

Canyoning tour operator Craig Albury said the Wollangambe canyon had three exits which had no signs and could only be spotted if people knew the landmarks. It would have taken the group about 45 minutes to walk from Mt Wilson to the start of the canyon and then up to five hours to climb, ride on inflatable mats down waterways and scramble through the canyon.

It should have taken just 90 minutes to walk out.

If an exit is missed, Mr Albury said canyoners had to scramble up cliff faces as high as 30m in some places.

"There are no sign posts in any of the canyons . . . it is wilderness," he said.

Sydney Church of England Grammar School headmaster Dr Tim Wright yesterday said Nick, who was to start Year 10 in a few weeks, was a gifted sportsman.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of Nick Delaney and we express our support for his family," Dr Wright said. "Nick was a strong student, a gifted sportsman and he will be greatly missed by the school community."

At the Delaney family's Seaforth home yesterday, a steady stream of relatives and friends arrived to comfort Nick's devastated parents.

"It's an absolute tragedy, they are a beautiful family and Nick was a delightful young man," one visitor said.

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Youth died in rockfall just hours before being found in the Blue Mountains
Jodie Minus From AAP
January 16, 2010

SYDNEY school student Nicholas Delaney died only hours before a two-day police search located him and his five companions in rugged bushland, but if the group had been carrying a personal locator beacon they could have been found much sooner.

As a police helicopter yesterday winched the 15-year-old's body out of a remote area near Wollangambe Canyon at Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains National Park, crime manager Mick Bostock said inquiries indicated Nicholas died after a rockfall on Thursday - two days after the group went missing and hours before they were found.

Before the group was located Blue Mountains duty officer Max Wallace expressed disappointment the group was not carrying one of the personal locator beacons that are freely available from National Parks offices and police stations in the region.

The beacons, equipped with GPS location technology, issue a distress signal to the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Canberra, which is immediately acted upon.

The location system would have allowed rescuers to find the missing canyoners.

Nicholas set out on Tuesday with his older brother, Chris, 27, cousin Allan, 13, and friends Michael Gibb, 25, and sisters Beth and Joanne Wilcock, 27 and 25 respectively, to explore the first section of the Wollangambe Canyon, but they failed to return home that evening. A two-day search, involving police, ambulance officers and Rural Fire Service volunteers, covering a 20km square area of knee-high scrub and rugged terrain by foot, ended on Thursday afternoon when rescuers found that Nicholas was dead.

The five survivors were winched out that afternoon, treated at Nepean Hospital for minor injuries, and released yesterday. Nicholas, a student at Shore, in North Sydney, lived with his parents, both doctors, at Seaforth, a harbourside suburb.

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Missing Blue Mountains canyoners found, but one dead
Article from: AAP
By Belinda Cranston and Patrick Caruana
January 15, 2010

A canyoning trip in NSW's rugged Blue Mountain has ended in tragedy with one of the group of six young people killed in a rock fall.

The canyoners - two boys aged 13 and 15, two women aged 25 and 27 and two men aged 25 and 27 - were reported missing by relatives after failing to return from a planned day trip to the Wollangambe Canyon on Tuesday.

Emergency services had been searching for the group for two days when police helicopter Polair located them, reportedly in two groups, in a canyon near Mount Wilson about 4.20pm (AEDT) today.

The 27-year-old woman and 13-year-old boy were first to be airlifted out. They were taken to hospital suffering dehydration and minor abrasions.

Low, thick cloud prevented police from immediately airlifting the remaining members of the party from the canyon, including a dead male.

Paramedics were to have been sent into the area on foot to rendezvous with the survivors about 9pm, but a break in the weather allowed PolAir to winch the three remaining survivors to safety just after 6.20pm.

Their conditions are unknown, and the body remains in the canyon, trapped under the rock fall.

"Police are waiting to speak to them to determine the exact circumstances surrounding the incident," police said in a statement.

Poor weather has hampered efforts to retrieve the body and it may not be removed from the site until tomorrow.

Relatives have been waiting for information at a police staging post at Mount Wilson Rural Fire Service base since yesterday.

The group set out at 7.30am (AEDT) on Tuesday and relatives reported them missing after they failed to return as scheduled on Tuesday afternoon and could not be contacted by phone.

Some of the group were said to be experienced canyoners, with one having previously completed the trip, and all six had adequate clothing and supplies.

However, police have expressed frustration that bushwalkers continue to venture into the wilderness without emergency beacons.

"Certainly it's disappointing," Blue Mountains Police Inspector Max Wallace said before the group was found.

"People can go on walks they've been on before, as in this case, and can perhaps be overconfident in their abilities to achieve the walk without any problems.

"But the nature of this environment is that you can encounter problems."

Earlier in the day, police had said wet weather which hampered their search was also improving their chances of survival.

"It has been raining, but at least there hasn't been excessive heat," Blue Mountains Local Area Command Crime Manager Detective Inspector Michael Bostock said.

"If it was too hot, they'd likely be dehydrated and suffering from heat exhaustion. The weather also assists the searchers."

About 50 people including police, RFS volunteers and National Parks and Wildlife staff and paramedics were involved in the search.

Mild weather was one of the reasons British backpacker Jamie Neale survived 12 days lost in the NSW Blue Mountains last year.

After a massive operation, the State Emergency Service found the 19-year-old Londoner after he disappeared during a planned one-day bushwalk on July 3.

Meanwhile, some resources from today's search for the canyoners were diverted to bushland at nearby Hazelbrook, where an elderly man suffering Alzheimer's Disease has been missing for two days.

Eric Juland, 85, was last seen at his house about 6.45pm on Tuesday.

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Police retrieve teen canyoner's body
AAP
ANDREW DRUMMOND AND BELINDA CRANSTON
January 15, 2010 .

Police have recovered the body of 15-year-old Nick Delaney, who died the same day his now grieving canyoning companions were rescued from NSW's rugged Blue Mountains.

The student at Sydney's exclusive Shore college was among a group of six reported missing after they failed to return from a planned day trip through the Wollangambe Canyon on Tuesday.

A two-day search by more than 50 emergency service workers ended at 4.20pm (AEDT) on Thursday, when they were spotted in two groups by the police helicopter near Mount Wilson.

The survivors have been identified by media outlets as Nick's brother Chris Delaney, 27, and 13-year-old cousin Allan Delaney, along with Michael Gibbs, 25, and sisters Joanne Wilcock, 26, and Beth Wilcock, 27.

All five were eventually airlifted to safety by 7pm (AEDT) on Thursday after delays due to poor weather - low cloud, mist and rain.

They were taken to the nearby Richmond RAAF Base and transferred to Nepean Hospital and treated for dehydration, hypothermia and assorted minor injuries.

All five were released on Friday morning.

Police believe Nick was killed in a rockfall earlier on the same day his companions were rescued.

Guarded by police and paramedics, his body remained in rough terrain on Thursday night after rain hindered recovery efforts.

It was eventually recovered just after 2.30pm (AEDT) on Friday by Polair.

Investigations into how the teenager died are continuing.

Police said some of the canyoners were experienced, and one of them had previously completed the trip.

All six had adequate clothing and supplies but Police Inspector Max Wallace said the group would have been better prepared if they had taken emergency beacons.

"People can go on walks they've been on before, as in this case, and can perhaps be overconfident in their abilities to achieve the walk without any problems," he said on Thursday before the group was found.

"The nature of this environment is that you can encounter problems."

Other hikers in the area said the terrain was rough and the path was poorly signposted.

"The only sign that we saw was a scratch in the rock saying exit," bushwalker Daniel Scott told Network Ten on Friday.

In a statement from Shore headmaster Dr Tim Rice, Nick was described as a strong student and a gifted sportsman.

The school has offered counselling to students and parents as the Delaney family prepares for Nick's funeral.

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Praise for Mount Wilson rescue effort
By Shane Desiatnik
20 Jan, 2010

The selfless commitment shown by hundreds of search-and-rescue volunteers during a multi-day search in the Blue Mountains last week, often in unforgiving and dangerous conditions, was acknowledged by Detective Inspector Mick Bostock on Monday.
It began at first light on January 13, the morning after six canyoners failed to return to their parked cars and contact relatives after a planned one-day trip to the Wollangambe Canyon near Mt Wilson.

Foggy conditions and low overnight temperatures made things difficult for more than 100 volunteers as they searched with no luck for almost three days.

A brief window of improved conditions allowed a Polair helicopter crew to spot the missing party in two separate groups late on Thursday afternoon about one kilometre north of the search area.

But the search ended in tragedy when 15-year-old Shore School student Nick Delaney was found dead, wedged under a dislodged rock on higher ground.