in the group's vehicles. At this point, the DOC officer returned to the scene of the accident while the student ran along the road with a note containing information about the location of the accident. By 12:15 p.m., he had managed to phone the police at Greymouth. The remoteness of the site made it difficult for medical services to assist the survivors. The first person to reach the scene was a Greymouth police constable, who arrived on foot two hours after the accident. Ambulances from Greymouth and Westport arrived initially, later followed by RNZAF Bell UH-1H and BK-117 Rescue helicopters from Christchurch. The Commission of Inquiry A Commission of Inquiry into the accident, headed by District Judge Graeme Noble, highlighted a number of serious concerns with the Department of Conservation's construction of the platform. Specific concerns that were raised included: The platform had not been designed or approved by a qualified engineer. None of the people involved in building the platform were qualified engineers. Nails were used to secure the platform instead of bolts (as intended by the design), because an appropriate drill had not been taken to the building site. The steps to the platform, which were supposed to be attached as a counterweight, had not been properly attached. A Building Consent had never been obtained for the platform. By the time this was realised, the plans had been lost and replacement (and incorrect) schematics were hastily drawn by an unqualified volunteer exchange student so as to lodge a retrospective application. Further confusion about the Building Act then resulted in the consent never being lodged. The platform was not listed in any register that would have resulted in regular inspections. A warning sign for the platform, suggesting a maximum limit of five people, had been ordered but was never installed at the site. Besides the specific flaws in the actual platform and methods of its construction, the Commission said the "root causes" of the collapse were systemic problems in the department as a whole, noting that the department was seriously under-funded and under-resourced. The Commission found that the department had not been given sufficient resources to meet its requirements without "cutting corners", and was frequently forced to accept poor quality standards due to its lack of funding. The report of the Commission concluded that given the department's state, "a tragedy such as Cave Creek was almost bound to happen".