Briton drowns in river sports accident
A 21-year-old British backpacker died yesterday after becoming trapped underwater in a riverboarding adventure in New Zealand.
The woman and her boyfriend were in a group of tourists tackling the descent of the Kawarau river in the Kawarau gorge, near Cromwell, on New Zealand's South Island. The river is known for its fast-moving rapids.
Sergeant Stephen Ereckson of Cromwell police said the woman became submerged and trapped between rocks in the middle of the river. Guides struggled for 20 minutes to free her and brought her to shore where they tried to resuscitate her. Paramedics arrived shortly afterwards but she was pronounced dead.
Members of the group had put on wetsuits and helmets and were using bodyboards to float or tumble through a series of rapids, propelled by the fast-flowing currents. Riverboarding is popular with backpackers and the company which organised the group, the Mad Dog River Boarding Company, bills the descent as "an extreme adrenalin adventure".
On the company's website, it says a full safety briefing, demonstration and practice session is held before boarders enter the river. It says the experience is best suited to "clients who enjoy water sports and have reasonable swimming ability" and displays comments and photographs from other young people who have completed the descent.
People who go on the course pass through a series of six rapids, one of which is nicknamed the Man Eater, before reaching calm waters. The water adventure is meant to last up to two hours.
Police said an investigation would be launched into the death but said that the river flow was normal for the time of year. They said the woman's identity would be released once her next of kin were notified.
The incident comes two weeks after six students and a teacher were killed while canyoning in a river in New Zealand's North Island. The schoolchildren, their teacher and a guide were hit by flash floods and swept down through a remote, boulder-strewn gorge.