/ 14 June 2000

RAFTING DISASTER REPORT RELEASED

A REPORT released by the Southern African Rivers Association has found that it was a contravention of its code not to ensure that 13 tourists who died in a rafting disaster in March were wearing life jackets. The disaster victims, who were all connected to a Port Elizabeth law firm, died when a tributary of the Storms River came down in full flood after heavy rain upstream. The report found that it was a contravention of its code not to ensure that the tourists were wearing life jackets. Although the victims died of injuries rather than drowning, life jackets would have protected them, the report said.