Queenstown council questions findings into fatal jet crash

Kawarau River. Photo / Supplied

The Queenstown Lakes District Council has challenged investigators' findings over the role it played following a fatal river crash in 2009.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report released today says a collision between a jet ski and jet boat, which killed two men, happened because both vessels were travelling too fast and the jet boat was on the wrong side of the Kawarau River.

Jet boat driver Lawrence Brett Singleton and passenger Anton Woitasek died in the smash near Queenstown in January 2009. Another passenger was injured.

Despite receiving critical injuries, the jet ski passenger survived. Her driver, who suffered serious injuries, also survived.

The two vessels approached each other at unsafe speeds from behind overhanging willow trees and there was not enough time to take evasive action.

No one on the jet boat was wearing a life-jacket and investigators believed the two men - who died from drowning - might have been saved in time had they been wearing the proper safety gear.

Protective helmets would have protected against serious injuries sustained by three of the five people involved in the crash.

Investigators said Queenstown Lakes District Council had lifted a speed restriction bylaw and had increased the risk to all river users and the risk of fatal accidents by doing so.

TAIC also criticised the wording of the council's bylaw, saying it could confuse river users.

However, the council today said investigators failed to acknowledge the context of the council's speed limit increase.

The council had lifted the speed limit to five knots in the 1980s, consistent with the limit imposed on most navigable rivers in the country, council regulatory and corporate general manager Roger Taylor said.

The Kawarau was a large, single, waterway channel that had been shared by commercial and recreational users, relatively incident-free, for more than 40 years.

But the council accepted there might be some merit in establishing a nationally consistent way to assess the appropriate speed limits on New Zealand rivers.

Mr Taylor also said the council had introduced a bylaw to make lifejackets mandatory.

Six safety recommendations have been made to Maritime New Zealand, the Secretary for Transport, the chief executive of Local Government New Zealand and the chief executive of the Queenstown Lakes District Council.

The council welcomed any safety initiatives regarding commercial jet boating operations but it said a wider review by Maritime New Zealand had more than adequately covered such matters.

A new licensing system for commercial operators was scheduled for introduction in October.

The council supported both Maritime New Zealand and the Ministry of Transport's view that recreational boating recommendations should be referred for further discussion at the National Pleasure Boat Safety Forum in May.

- NZPA