Israeli tramper's fatal detour a mystery

Lisa Okin. Photo / Supplied

A coroner investigating the death of Israeli tourist Liat Okin has been unable to find who or what led her off a tramping track in Fiordland.

Ms Okin, 35, was found on May 16 last year about 1km from off the Routeburn track.

In his findings, southern region coroner David Crerar said there were reasonably certain answers as to the medical cause and approximate date of death of Ms Okin, but he had no answers as what led the 35-year-old to leave the Routeburn Track, the Otago Daily Times reported.

Ms Okin, an inexperienced tramper, left the formed track to follow a little known and unformed Department of Conservation emergency avalanche route.

Mr Crerar it was not clear why Ms Okin left the Routeburn for the avalanche track because the second track was marked only by hard-to-see plastic tags tied to trees.

Why the tourist chose to take what Mr Crerar described as "not a cut route...over difficult and inhospitable terrain, moraine boulders, tree stumps and branches" remained a mystery, but photographs she took along the way showed she had been there.

"The fact Liat Okin took (the) images...indicates to me...she was unconcerned about her position and was unlikely to have considered herself lost," Mr Crerar said.

During the inquest, Sergeant Brock Davis of Invercargill police said the greatest likelihood was the Ms Okin had been shown the start of the avalanche track and been assisted up through it.

It was not known who had escorted her, but police believed she had been left to fend for herself after the photo was taken, about 40 minutes walk from the main track, Mr Davis told the inquest.

Department of Conservation warden Evan Smith who had spoken with Ms Okin at a hut said he had not shown her that path.

DOC track worker Clive Rule, who marked out the avalanche route, said it would have been immediately clear to trampers they were no longer on the correct path.

The final photos were from a ridge-line where she could have seen the Milford road, which she appeared to have walked toward.

However, she never made it beyond a rocky gully in Roaring Creek where, after constructing a bivouac to shelter for the night, she fell on slippery boulders, breaking her neck.

Hypothermia and lying in a cramped position also possibly contributed to her death either on March 26 or 27.

Mr Crerar recommended the Department of Conservation review the branding of its "Great Walks" tramping tracks.

"I raised with DOC witnesses as to whether the expression `Great Walks' adequately describe the tramping trip," he said.

His concern was that inexperienced tourists, particularly those who spoke English as a second language, saw "walk" and discounted "the seriousness of the situation...a rugged back-country environment, with unpredictable weather conditions through difficult and potentially dangerous terrain".

- NZPA