One little mistake is all it takes for fatal accident

The death of an American holidaymaker on the Kaituna River was a freak accident, local kayak and rafting experts say.
Matthew Kyle Stidham, a 23-year-old from Alabama in the United States, drowned on Sunday after his kayak became trapped between two fallen trees. He was one of a group of four men on a recreational kayak trip.
Members of Rotorua's kayaking and rafting communities have said that the area where the man died is a tricky part of the river called Awesome Gorge and has not been rafted commercially for about 18 months, although recreational kayakers paddle the area often.
Andi Uhl of Topline Agencies NZ Ltd said the Awesome Gorge is not a technically difficult area but is dangerous due to its steep banks and tight turns.
"There is always the danger that there are trees to be negotiated. You have to be relatively experienced and quite confident in your roll so if you tip over somewhere you don't start swimming.
"We have known about that tree for a while but due to the heavy rain last week another tree has come down and formed an X where he got trapped. Three of the four of them passed that tree and two of them went back to see where he was.
"The guy who got trapped must have made one little mistake. That's all it takes. If you make a mistake on the river you don't usually break an arm or leg, it's much worse," Mr Uhl said.
The owner/operator of commercial rafting company Raftabout, Stephen McNab, said he had stopped rafting the Awesome Gorge section of the Kaituna River 18 months ago due to safety concerns.
"There were logs in there and I thought, from a commercial rafting perspective, that taking people down there who know nothing about rivers at all was my responsibility. It's a piece of gorge that you can't just stop the raft on the side of the bank and pull someone out."
Kaituna River users are still in shock after the death but say the sport is naturally dangerous and they understand the risks involved.
With the world's highest commercially rafted waterfall of 7m, the Kaituna River is a whitewater enthusiast's dream come true.
Commercial white water rafting started in the early 1990s on the upper reaches of the Kaituna River and it is now one of New Zealand's premier rafting destinations.
There have been no deaths in more than 15 years of commercial rafting on the river.
"That is pretty impressive considering the thousands of people who go down it every year. The Rotorua rafting community is pretty professional and have high safety standards," Mr McNab said.