One dead after two jet-boat crashes
One person has died and another is injured after a jet boat crash in Central Otago.
Emergency services were called to the Clutha River at Hawea Flat, near Wanaka, about 1.30pm yesterday, a police spokeswoman said. One person died at the scene.
St John spokeswoman Neha Concisom said a helicopter crew took another person with moderate injuries to Dunedin Hospital.
The crash was during the Otago Rivers Jet Boat Race, run by the New Zealand Jet Boat River Racing Association.
Its president, John Derry, confirmed the accident happened.
The race was two days long, starting in the Waitaki River on Saturday and finishing in the Matukituki and Clutha Rivers yesterday. He declined to comment further last night.
A witness at the scene said the boat crashed into a bank by a willow tree and became tangled in the branches. The boat slid about 20 metres up a 40m bank.
Emergency services tied the boat to the bank by the tree with two blue strops.
The Press understands the accident happened about 2km downstream from the Albert Town bridge on State Highway 6.
Maritime New Zealand was notified and was at the scene investigating, a spokeswoman said. The Swift Water Rescue team was called to assist with the scene examination.
The area where the crash happened was difficult to access and it would take some time to establish the cause of the crash, a police statement said.
The incident came just a day after 10 people were injured when the jet boat they were on crashed into a vertical canyon near Queenstown.
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult said it had been a ‘‘very tough’’ weekend in the district after the two accidents.
‘‘Our thoughts at this stage go the families of the folk involved in the accident, and of course the wider jet-boating fraternity.’’
Boult said it was ‘‘way too early to say’’ if he or the council would take any action after the accidents. ‘‘We have no knowledge of the cause of either of the accidents. I would doubt it’s something council would have an involvement in,’’ he said. ‘‘We have to wait until the authorities complete their investigations.’’
He said there was no relationship between the two accidents.
A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said firefighters helped clear the landing zone for the helicopter i yesterday.
Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) senior communications adviser Simon Pleasants said TAIC had been notified of yesterday’s crash, but
‘‘We have no knowledge of the cause of either of the accidents.’’
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult
had not decided whether to investigate. TAIC only investigates commercial or tourism operations or people being transported from one place to another.
Pleasants said the information gathered had not met the criteria for investigation yet.
On Saturday, nine passengers and a Skippers Canyon Jet driver were injured in a crash about 10am. One person – a Canadian woman – was taken to Dunedin Hospital with a broken leg. The others suffered minor injuries.
The company has temporarily suspended its operations while an initial investigation into the cause of the crash is carried out.
In 2017, a man died in another New Zealand Jet Boat River Racing Association event, during the week-long World Championship Jet Boat Marathon on the Waimakariri River.