Tourists crash into Shotover rock wall

Eleven jetboat passengers were injured yesterday when their craft slammed into a rock wall on the Shotover River near Queenstown.

The jet was operated by Shotover Jet, which bills itself as "the world's most exciting jetboat ride".

Its chief executive, Adrian Januszkiewicz, said all 11 passengers - Britons, Australians and New Zealanders - were hurt but the driver escaped unscathed.

The injuries included broken wrists and concussion.

Mr Januszkiewicz said the passengers sustained broken limbs because they would have been holding on tightly to safety bars in front of them.

Queenstown police chief Senior Sergeant John Fookes said the jetboat, riding downstream, collided with a rock wall near the entrance to an area known as The Second Gorge.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission will begin an investigation today.

Mr Januszkiewicz said the company was alerted to what had happened in radio messages from other jetboats in the area and put its emergency plan into action.

"A Shotover Jet response team was sent immediately to the scene and all the passengers were transferred to the Lakes District Hospital for assessment."

"We are deeply distressed by what has happened because safety is our top priority. Our concern right now is for those passengers who have been injured."

The company would give all the help it could, including treatment and counselling.

Mr Januszkiewicz said he believed the jetboat was travelling at "normal" speed when it hit the wall but was unable to be more specific.

Jetboats travel at high speed through the steep gorge, travelling close to the rock face to give a thrillseeking ride.

He said it was too early to say what had caused the accident. The company immediately halted its operations for the day and alerted relevant authorities.

"We are cooperating fully with them and Shotover Jet will also undertake its own inquiries."

In November 1999 a Japanese honeymooner was killed on a Shotover Jet. Yuichiro Shibata, aged 30, died of head injuries after one of the company's jets hit a canyon wall on the Shotover River.

His death is the subject of an as yet uncompleted coroner's inquest in Queenstown.

Yesterday's accident is the second on the Shotover River this week.

On Tuesday, Yoly Nim Yan Chi, 19, an Otago University medical student, drowned after falling from a Queenstown Rafting raft into the swift-flowing river in part of the Mother rapid known as Toilet.

Ms Chi's body was trapped underwater for more than an hour.

Her death was the 40th adventure tourism-related accident in the Southern Lakes area since January 1997.

- NZPA