Two die when raft overturns

Press, 25 February 1986, Page 3

Two die when raft overturns

Two Arrowtown men died during a commercial rafting expedition down the isolated Landsborough River, Haast, about 4.30 p.m. on Sunday. They were

Douglas James Martin, aged 32, and Colin George Hampton, aged 43.

Constable Roger Millard of the Haast police reported yesterday that the men were in a raft owned by the Kawarau Rafting Company, with an experienced guide, Chris Rawlings, when it overturned and five people were swept downstream. “Three of the occupants managed to swim to shore but Mr Martin was washed up dead, about ikin further downstream, and Mr Hampton 6km further downstream,” he said. Constable Millard said that the Ministry of Transport was likely to conduct an inquiry into the fatalities soon using his report. “The men were part of a group of 20 people, who I think were all from the Queenstown area taking part in a week-end rafting expedition from the top of

the river, near Mount Cook, to Clarkes Bluff,” he said.

“Two of the three rafts, owned by the Kawarau Rafting Company in Queenstown, overturned between Harpers and Strutts bluffs about 4.30 p.m.

Occupants from one of the overturned rafts did not run into difficulty. In the other raft three of the occupants swam to shore and the raft became lodged in some logs further downstream. “Cue of the Value Tours rafts, that was in the vicinity and carried a radio, contacted the Value Tours Christchurch office which then contacted a Haast helicopter pilot, Mr Harvey Hutton. I happened to be with Mr Hutton at the time and accompanied him in the helicopter to Clarkes Bluff,” said Constable Millard.

When the helicopter reached Clarkes Bluff one of the Kawarau Rafting Company’s rafts had nearly reached the waiting vehicles there and the rafters had begun to make plans to get help,

Constable Millard said.

“At that stage we did not know if the five people who had fallen out of the raft were still missing. We continued downstream and found Mr Hampton’s body, then the three people who swam to shore, and finally Mr Martin’s body."

Constable Millard said that although the river was at half flood and currents were strong, these were not unusual conditions for commercial rafting on the river. Mr Tim Sykes, a Value Tours guide who saw the overturning, said that the Landsborough River was generally grade five on a commerical rafting scale. This grade, which includes difficult, fast rapids, is the same as that for the Rangitata River. Mr Sykes said that one of the Value Tours rafts carried a radio which could be quickly detached from an abandoned raft. The two deaths on Sunday bring the total fatalities from commercial rafting since 1974 to 10 of about 700,000 people who have shot the rapids or rafted quieter rivers.