River death firm on trial
A law graduate from Wyre Forest who drowned on a river adventure trip in New Zealand had not been told how to escape in an emergency, a trial was told today.
A boat was carrying neither throw-bags nor ropes on the day Emily Jordan, aged 21, from Trimpley, near Bewdley, died after becoming trapped underneath a bodyboard.
Mad Dog River Boarding director Brad McLeod was taking tourists on excursions when the water level was unusually low, and had not briefed people on how to escape if trapped when riding on the modified board, the jury in Queenstown was told.
Miss Jordan, whose father Christopher has travelled to New Zealand for the hearing, was on a six-month backpacking trip with her 23-year-old boyfriend, Jonathan Armour, when tragedy struck in April last year.
The couple had been river boarding – an activity in which people lie on a bodyboard and ride along rapids – when Miss Jordan became trapped between rocks.
Miss Jordan was underwater for up to 20 minutes before a boat belonging to another tour company was able to free her.
Mr Armour, who met Miss Jordan while studying at Swansea University, witnessed the whole ordeal from the riverbank.
McLeod and his company face three charges each over Miss Jordan's death on the Kawarau River Gorge, in New Zealand's South Island.
If found guilty, each conviction carries a maximum fine of more than £100,000.
Today was the first day of the hearing, which is expected to take five days.
