The Whangaehu River at Tangiwai
10 kilometres west of the town Waiōuru in the central North Island, I arrived at a place called Tangiwai. The location of New Zealand’s worst railway accident where 151 died.
The tragedy occurred on Christmas Eve, 1953 and was caused when part of a carter wall containing a lake on the volcano Mount Ruapehu collapsed and a torrent of water surged down the Whangaehu River. Moments before the Wellington to Auckland express train arrived at the Tangiwai bridge, it had been damaged by the fast moving lahar and the bridge collapsed when the train began to cross it. Of the 285 passengers aboard the train, 151 died. To this day it remains New Zealand’s worst Railway accident.
