Scammer tried to cash in on zip-line death at Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours

Dean Sanderson was killed and his wife Shannon was injured after the zip-line snapped. Photo / Supplied

A friend of the Adelaide tourist who was killed in a zip-lining accident has revealed the sick tactic someone used to try and cash in on the freak accident.

Dean Sanderson, 50, died on Tuesday when the zip-line run by Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours in the Daintree Rainforest in Far North Queensland broke, causing him to fall more than 10 metres.

His 48-year-old wife Shannon also fell and remains in a serious condition at Cairns Hospital.

Damian McCann, a friend of the couple, has since set up a GoFundMe page to help with the costs of Mr Sanderson's funeral, news.com.au reports.

But he revealed it has been a struggle to get donations after a scammer set up his own fundraiser on a different website and tricked friends and family of the couple into donating.

"There was a different fund set up by someone claiming to be a friend of family but it turned out to be a scam," Mr McCann told news.com.au.

"I donated and then I was told that the man who started it didn't actually know the family."

He described the person as the "lowest of the low".

"So the response to the new fundraiser has been a bit lukewarm. People are now wary about donating," he added.

On the page Mr McCann urged people to contact him if they had any concerns about the authenticity of the donation page.

He hopes to raise enough money to cover Mr Sanderson's funeral and to help the family with any ongoing costs.

"Because they are away from home the family is going to incur significant costs and the fund will hopefully help with that," Mr McCann said.

"It is also to try and take a little bit of worry off their plates during this difficult time."

Mr McCann had been friends with Mr Sanderson since the early 2000s and said he was the "life of the party".

"He was one of those one in a million, salt of the earth type people. He couldn't be more helpful to others," he said.

"He was the life of the party and somebody that everybody knew."

Speaking of the couple, he said that Mr Sanderson and his wife "were as close as they could possibly be".

"I know she will be devastated and the aim of the fundraiser is to try and help put her mind at ease even a little bit," Mr McCann said.

'BLOODCURDLING SCREAM'

A woman who was next in line to take the zip-line that killed Mr Sanderson has revealed the horrifying moment the man plummeted to his death.

Witness Mardi Liebelt, who was waiting in line behind the couple when the tragedy occurred, has spoken to the ABC about the terrifying ordeal.

"The twang when the zip line came back up made an awful noise, then there was just silence for what seemed like forever," she told the ABC.

"And then the lady was just screaming for help, a terrible bloodcurdling scream that I never wish to hear again."

Ms Liebelt, from Hervey Bay, said a fellow tourist, a paramedic who was also waiting to use the flying fox, rushed to help the injured couple.

"He managed to revive (Mr Sanderson) for a while, but he died because of massive head trauma," Ms Liebelt said.

Following the accident, Ms Liebelt and her partner Andrew Hayward were both trapped in the tree-high platform for an hour before they could be rescued.

Mardi Liebelt and Andrew Hayward were the last people to speak with the Sandersons. Photo / News Corp Australia

She said staff and fellow customers were traumatised and she "broke down in tears" after the Sandersons fell.

Ms Liebelt was one of the last people to speak with Mr Sanderson and described the couple as "very friendly".

"Ironically, they were telling us how they had zip-lined in Bali and how there's not much in the way of safety there and how they felt much safer being back in Australia and zip-lining," she told the ABC.

The witness said she was struggling with feelings of guilt.

"We feel guilty, we feel lucky, we have felt every emotion in between and still do," she said.

"We don't know why it was them and not us.

"We haven't slept. Every time you shut your eyes you relive it because you see it again."

Fellow witnesses Samantha Salyer and Joseph Maghe, from the US, told Seven yesterday they had just finished the same section of the zip-line before watching the couple fall.

"We got to the fifth platform and there were two couples behind us," they said.

"There was a loud noise, we turned around, one of the lines had snapped and we saw them fall. It shook the entire tree we were on. They hung there, then they both came down at the same time."

An emotional Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours director Phoebe Kitto told The Courier Mail she couldn't explain how the tragedy unfolded at this point, but the business would co-operate fully with authorities to investigate how it had occurred.

"Our condolences go out to the family, this is just such a tragedy. We are completely in shock here at Jungle Surfing, and we are thinking of the family first and foremost," she said.

"We're also thinking obviously of the other people that were on the tour, some of whom witnessed the event which is a terrible thing to have to experience.

"And our staff have been severely impacted by this tragic event."

According to the Courier-Mail, this week's accident comes 15 years after a similar tragedy in Cape Tribulation.

In 2004, 21-year-old British tourist Lucy Keen fell 20 metres ad was left permanently brain damaged after operator Steve Jay Clark failed to secure her harness properly.