Grim sign erected after children's bones found on beach
Human remains, reportedly including bones from children, have been found at a beach in New Zealand after a huge landslide.
Earlier this month, a landslide in Maketū on the Bay of Plenty Coast caused the remains to be unearthed and a notice was put at Newdicks Beach to warn people not to fish or collect shells.
According to Liam Tapsell, an elder from Ngāti Whakaue ki Maketū, the sacks of remains include adult, children and possibly baby bones, The New Zealand Herald reported.
“We had local iwi and members of the public picking up bones for at least a week since the slip, that included two young Pākehā boys finding a jaw bone,” he said.
A public notice has been put up at the beach warning visitors not to collect shellfish.
“Human remains have been disinterred and fallen into the sea,” it read.
“The area includes the area of the slip and includes all of Newdicks Beach and five miles to the south.
“No shellfish or seafood of any kind is to be collected for human consumption in this period. The public are asked to avoid the area.”
The remains are believed to have come from a burial ground that was unearthed in the landslide.
The public have been asked to hand in any remains to police.
“Police are liaising with local Kaumātua and iwi to return human bones unearthed at Maketū beach near Te Puke,” a statement from New Zealand police to Yahoo7 News read.
