A female Chinese tourist is dead after a jetboat crash in Queenstown. The body of a woman has been recovered after the jetboat she was in flipped on the Shotover River, trapping her under the boat.
The woman died after the accident at the confluence of the Kawarau and Shotover Rivers, in Queenstown this afternoon when a Chinese tour group were on the jet boat ride.
Five other people were being treated at Lakes District Hospital, at Frankton, Queenstown.
The incident happened when the Kawarau Jet boat overturned after hitting a sandbar about 2.45pm.
Kawarau Jet company director Andrew Brinsley said 22 people, plus the driver, were on the scheduled tour.
Search and rescue procedures were launched and the survivors were transported to safety by other Kawarau Jet boats, he said.
Brinsley said it was understood the woman who died was trapped beneath the overturned craft.
Kawarau Jet owners and management are helping police and other authorities in their investigations.
NZPA
