New Zealand Jetboat flips one dead, five injured


'Kawarau Jet'
The Kawarau Jet, carrying 22 people flipped over at 2.45pm local time today, after hitting a sandbar at the mouth of the Shotover and Kawarau rivers, near Queenstown in New Zealand's South Island.

The world's first commercial jet boating operation, Kawarau Jet was set up in 1960 after two Invercargill brothers Alan and Harold Melhop made the first powered navigation of the Kawarau Falls dam in a Hamilton Jet.

Kawarau Jet company director Andrew Brinsley said 22 people, plus the driver, were on the scheduled tour. Brinsley said it was understood the woman, a Chinese tourist who died, was trapped beneath the overturned craft.

Search and rescue procedures were launched and the survivors were transported to safety by other Kawarau Jet boats, he said.

Kawarau Jet owners and management are helping police and other authorities in their investigations.




by Powerboat-World.com



Newsfeed supplied by

Live Weather
Nearby
North Head, NSW
8 kn ENE
Little Bay, NSW
9 kn NE
Cronulla, NSW
15 kn E
Windiest in Australia
Wilcannia Airport, NSW
25 kn NNE
30°
Most Windless in Australia
Adele Island, WA
Calm
29°
Hottest in Australia
Birdsville Airport, QLD
21 kn N
41°
Coldest in Australia
Mount Read, TAS
7 kn N
5°
Wettest in Australia
Cape Jaffa, SA
11.0 mm