NZ Bravery Awards: Police officers recognised over Cyclone Gabrielle Muriwai landslide rescue

NZ Herald

02-05-2025

Nothing had been heard from van Zwanenberg, but Stevens' calls for help were coming from his jammed radio when Lewis and Head, who is also a volunteer firefighter, began searching.
He could hear a faint response from inside the devastated area but struggled to pinpoint Stevens' location amid the noise of generators, shouting and banging, Head told the Police News magazine in May last year.
Remembering videos from the Christchurch earthquake rescues, he told everyone to shut up.
'All this noise of chaos just disappeared … there's nothing but the storm howling, the rain hitting the iron roof. I put my head down a little gap and yelled out, 'Can you hear me?'
'Sure enough, a muffled response right below me.'
With Lewis and the Muriwai brigade's deputy chief, the trio were able to clear timber frames, mud and bushes down about 1.5 metres before Head reached his arm in - and the trapped Stevens found his hand, the Helensville-based officer told Police News.
'We both grabbed hands and there was a quick embrace … [I thought], 'This can't be real life. I must be dreaming'."
After nearly an hour, they got to the trapped firefighter.
'The only way I could tell where he was, was I could see these little lips moving in the mud', Head told Police News.
'Everywhere', Stevens replied, when asked where he was hurting.
'Just get me out of here.'
The 26-year-old police officer decided to stay with Stevens while others cleared a path to get him out.
He cleaned blood off Stevens' face, tried to get mud out of his eyes, and gave him water, Head said.
The danger was far from over, with a second slip as large as the first occurring at 12.30pm. Amid screams of 'slip, slip', people scattered.
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It sounded like a crack of lightning and looked like a big shadow, said Head of the slip hurtling towards the two police officers and the trapped firefighter.
Both policemen decided to stay, with Head telling Police News he feared Stevens might 'lose hope' if left alone.
The officers shared a brief glance, Lewis said.
'I just said, 'F***, bro', kind of, 'see you later'. I honestly thought, 'This is it, it's a slip and we're not getting away'', the 29-year-old said.
Leaning over Stevens', Head waited to be buried, a burst of fear surging through him.
'[The slip] got louder and louder and the vibrations got heavier and heavier. And then, it just never came over the top of us.
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'After that, I told Craig, 'Don't worry mate, I'm not going to leave you'. And he said, 'Thank you, I appreciate it'.
'I feel like that might have given him more will to actually hang in there a little bit', Head told Police News.
Urban Search and Rescue eventually pulled the 39-year-old firefighter to safety three hours and 13 minutes after the landslide. The married father-of-two died in hospital three days later.
'His injuries were too great and eventually he was put in an induced coma,' Head told Police News.
'His family got the chance to say goodbye to him. Literally, upon saying goodbye, he passed away.'
The body of 41-year-old van Zwanenberg, also a married father of two, was found 35 hours after the landslide and about 12 metres from where Stevens had been rescued.
Tuesday's investiture ceremony was the latest for the formal presentation of the 38 citations announced in December.
The citations recognise heroism across a range of events, including the New Lynn and Christchurch mosque attacks, Dunedin supermarket attack and Cyclone Gabrielle.
Among those recognised was Constable Matthew Hunt, awarded a Bravery Decoration posthumously after he was killed in the line of duty in West Auckland five years ago next month.
There are four types of bravery commendations, ranging from the bravery medal to the highest honour - the New Zealand Cross - which has been given four times since the awards began in 1999 as a replacement to the previous British bravery awards system.