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Companions of a Chinese tourist trapped under a jetboat after it crashed near Queenstown say they repeatedly asked emergency services to look under the boat for her body.
The woman was found underneath the boat, about an hour and a half after the Kawarau Jet flipped on the Shotover River at 2.45pm yesterday.
Emergency services were unable to revive her.
The jetboat was carrying 22 passengers and the driver when it overturned where the Shotover and Kawarau rivers meet.
Two passengers were flown to Queenstown Lakes District Hospital by helicopter, and another two were taken by ambulance.
Members of the tour group asked emergency services to look under the boat, as a helicopter searched the river for the woman, 3 News reported.
"I thought maybe someone is under the boat," one of the passengers told TV3.
Queenstown constable Lisa Watt said that emergency services got to the scene as quickly as they could.
A crane was needed to move the jetboat so search teams could recover the woman's body.
Police, the Maritime Safety Authority and the Traffic Accident Investigation Commission have started investigations.
Kawarau Jet company director Andrew Brinsley said the jetboat hit a sandbar. Search and rescue procedures were launched and the survivors were picked up by other boats.
The victim will not be publicly identified until her next of kin are notified.
- NZPA
