Father of canyoning victim says charges will be useless

Manslaughter charges over a Swiss canyoning tragedy last year will solve nothing, says the father of one of the two New Zealanders killed.

Swiss officials have charged eight employees of Adventure World, the company that organised the outing in which 21 young people died, with manslaughter through negligence.

New Zealanders John Roe and Andrew Lee, a guide, both aged 30, were among the victims of the accident near Interlaken in central Switzerland on July 27 last year.

They were swept away by flash flooding after a sudden storm.

Fourteen of the victims came from Australia and the rest from New Zealand, South Africa, Britain and Switzerland.

Hamilton man David Roe said those who gave the expedition the go-ahead - apparently against local advice - should be prosecuted, not the guides.

"My feelings on it are that only the people who did not listen to the local people who advised against it should be perhaps taken to task for it," he told National Radio.

"I don't believe the guides should be, because they were only doing what they were told."

But he seemed to have mixed feelings about the worth of charges being laid at all.

"It's gone on long enough and it's time it was let go. Going to prosecute people is not going to bring anyone back.

"The main thing ... that should happen is there should be some sort of warning system in place so it won't happen again."

He had no problem with canyoning - an adventure sport which involves sliding, jumping and rappelling down ravines and into rivers without a raft.

Mr Roe said thousands had done it safely, and thousands more would do it.

"Every now and again there is going to be an accident - and I do see it as an accident.

"I feel sorry for the guides. I'm sure they wouldn't have gone there if they felt they were in any great danger."

John Roe's wife, Kelly Swanson-Roe, is travelling in the United States after attending a memorial service in Switzerland in July.

Her mother, Julie Swanson, yesterday said the charges had been expected.

"It's the first step on the road to winding it all up so the healing can start," she said.

Christchurch river guide Mike Abbott, who was also working for Adventure World as a guide on Saxet brook, near Interlaken, was not one of those recommended for prosecution.

Three directors of Adventure World have been charged with having led a canyoning trip into the brook when a thunderstorm was breaking over the Saxet valley.

The official with overall responsibility for the canyoning trip, two other officials at the company's base and two of the canyoning guides on the trip have also been charged.

Adventure World closed in May after the death of an American tourist in a bungi-jumping accident.

- NZPA