{"id":491331,"date":"2026-06-23T10:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T10:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/491331\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T10:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T10:06:09","slug":"blessing-held-at-south-auckland-park-after-body-recovered-from-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/491331\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessing held at South Auckland park after body recovered from pond"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">Reweti led a karakia and offered prayers for the person who died.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"A whakaw\u0101tea ceremony was conducted at Rongomai Park in Flat Bush. Photo \/ NZ Herald\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>A whakaw\u0101tea ceremony was conducted at Rongomai Park in Flat Bush. Photo \/ NZ Herald<\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">The blessing was held to lift the sense of \u201cheaviness\u201d and to restore peace following the recovery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">The waiata Wairua Tapu was sung before he concluded the ceremony with a Christian prayer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">Rongomai Park was largely deserted this afternoon, with only a handful of people passing through the area. <\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">Police tape from a cordon remained tied to a nearby tree, marking the spot where emergency services had worked overnight.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Police conducting a body recovery from a pond at Rongomai Park in Flat Bush. Photo \/ Hayden Woodward\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Police conducting a body recovery from a pond at Rongomai Park in Flat Bush. Photo \/ Hayden Woodward<\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">The death remains unexplained and formal identification procedures are underway, police said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">An autopsy was expected to take place today. <\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">Cordons were in place yesterday but the park has since reopened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">The public may see an increased police presence while inquiries continue, a police spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">Yesterday, walkway entrances into the park, which is next to Te Irirangi Drive, were temporarily cordoned off while police worked in the area.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Police search and rescue recovered a body from a pond at Rongomai Park on Monday night. Photo \/ NZ Herald\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Police search and rescue recovered a body from a pond at Rongomai Park on Monday night. Photo \/ NZ Herald<\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">A Hato Hone St John spokesperson said an ambulance also attended. <\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">A Herald photographer at the scene yesterday said police search and rescue staff, wearing personal protective equipment and waders, were preparing to deploy an inflatable boat into the pond within the reserve. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Cordons were established at Rongomai Park in Flat Bush while police carried out a body recovery mission. Photo \/ Hayden Woodward.\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Cordons were established at Rongomai Park in Flat Bush while police carried out a body recovery mission. Photo \/ Hayden Woodward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"KYZkfFLMYZDtBgBwd\" style=\"display:none\">A specialist police photographer was also seen at the reserve, while several police vehicles remained on nearby Belinda Ave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reweti led a karakia and offered prayers for the person who died. A whakaw\u0101tea ceremony was conducted at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,1975,51,1558,204014,7800,71,14236,111,43,139,69,6507,8143,675,105686,8694,1240],"class_list":["post-491331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-at","tag-auckland","tag-been","tag-blessing","tag-body","tag-from","tag-held","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-overnight","tag-park","tag-police","tag-pond","tag-recovered","tag-south"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}