KEY POINTS:
A British man whose daughter was killed while riverboarding in Kawarau Gorge, near Queenstown, this year, has called for the sport to be banned.
Law graduate Emily Jordan, 21, from Trimpley, Worcestershire, drowned in April while riding on a body board on fast-flowing rapids.
Ms Jordan got caught underwater between rocks, and her boyfriend, Jonny Armour, 23, could only look on helplessly as rescuers tried to extricate her body near the Roaring Meg power station in the river.
"The activity is not regulated at all and, despite my daughter's death, young people are still being taken riverboarding without the proper safety training or a proper briefing on the dangers they may face," Mr Jordan told the Birmingham Mail.
"The activity needs to be banned until somebody takes responsibility and regulates it.
"If that doesn't happen, it is only a matter of time until somebody else gets killed. Emily was a keen scuba diver and was extremely competent in the water.
"But the safety briefing she received before the activity lasted no more than two or three minutes. It is scandalous."
Maritime New Zealand has said it is working with the riverboarding and sledging industry to develop safety standards as well as a code of practice.
Draft guidelines include a requirement that operators must tell clients that whitewater boarding carries an inherent risk of drowning. Solo guiding should be used only in easily navigable rapids, and at least three guides should accompany any trip with more than 10 clients. A safe route through rapids is explained to clients before entering any rapid, according to the proposed guidelines.
A British inquest into Ms Jordan's death was opened in the Midlands in May but coroner Robin Balmain adjourned the hearing pending a full inquiry in New Zealand.
A New Zealand company and its owner are each facing three charges related to the death of Ms Jordan, in a case adjourned to February 9.
Although riverboarding continues on the river, there has been an interim ban on going near the area where Miss Jordan died when water levels are low.
A Queenstown tourism operator, Serious Fun Riversurfing (not related to Ms Jordan's trip) has become the first whitewater boarding operator to achieve QualmarkB, an quality mark in the tourism sector.
- NZPA
