Tourists among injured after canyon boat crash

A Queenstown jet boat company has suspended its services after nine tourists were injured in a crash yesterday.

Passengers, including five visitors from Thailand and two from Thailand, were among those injured when the boat crashed into a wall in Skippers Canyon at about 10am.

A middle-aged Canadian woman was flown to Dunedin Hospital with a suspected broken femur, and the others were airlifted to Lakes Hospital with minor injuries.

Skippers Canyon Jet marketing manager Gavin Larsen said the company did not yet know the cause of the accident.

He said the jet boat crashed head-on into the vertical wall of the canyon.

The passengers included five tourists from Thailand and two from Canada. ‘‘All we know is there was an incident on the river and nine people were helicoptered out, mainly for precautionary reasons and nothing life threatening.’’

The one staff member on board remained at the scene. Some of the customers with minor injuries had already been discharged from hospital, he said.

Skippers Canyon Jet sales manager Kayleigh Cord said services had been suspended during an investigation into the incident.

The jet boat trip took about 30 minutes, she said. The incident occurred when ‘‘the boat had turned around to come back down to our base’’.

An Otago Rescue Rescue Helicopter Trust spokesman said the chopper was sent to the scene at about 10.30am. Trust chief pilot Graeme Gale said the injured were ‘‘very lucky’’.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission and Maritime New Zealand are investigating the crash..