Tourist Dies In River Board Tragedy

River Boarding Death

30/04/2008

An English tourist has been killed after she became trapped between rocks while trying to ride down rapids in New Zealand.

The incident occurred during a group event in the Kawarau River Gorge on New Zealand's South Island with the Mad Dog River Boarding Company, based in Queenstown.

The group was in the gorge near the town of Cromwell when the 21-year-old woman became submerged and trapped between rocks in the middle of the river.

Guides struggled for about 20 minutes to free her, then took her to the riverbank and immediately tried to resuscitate her.

Paramedics arrived but were unable to revive her.

The river flow was normal at the time.

Police said they would be investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The woman, whose home town has not yet been named, will be identified after her next of kin have been told of the tragedy.

According to Mad Dog's website: "River Boarding is best suited for clients that enjoy water sports and have a reasonable swimming ability."

It says that a "full safety briefing is given including demonstrations and a practical training session".

Suki Chhokar, a Partner in the Travel Law team at Irwin Mitchell said "Whilst it's too early to determine what has happened to cause this tragic death, every year we act for clients who have experienced serious injuries whilst participating in extreme sports activities abroad where the training provided has been inadequate for the dangerous activities undertaken."

"Whilst these activities are dangerous, with the correct training these risks can be substantially minimised and the chances of things going wrong can be reduced. The number of incidents such as this does raise concerns about the training that is provided to tourists before undertaking these activities."