A 17-year-old Japanese woman and her partner rented a pair of PWC from NQ Watersports while on holiday in Queensland, Australia last September. Her boyfriend and a personal watercraft instructor were each riding their own skis when the woman crashed into a Sunlover Reef Cruises vessel that was moored at Cairns Marlin Marina.
The incident occurred shortly after 9am and the ship was full of passengers and several of them along with crew members pulled the victim from the water and attempted to render aid before paramedics arrived. The paramedics did everything they could to resuscitate the woman, to no avail. Unfortunately, she died on the scene in front of those who witnessed the crash.
This story came to us from OZPWC and sites that police spoke with witnesses and confiscated the ski in order to have crash experts perform forensic and mechanical inspections to determine whether anything was faulty with the ski that may have contributed to the crash.
This story is particularly noteworthy as Australia is currently grappling with the further legislation of personal watercraft use in specific beaches and waterways, as well as requiring licensing and classes in order to operate these machines. How exactly this incident will affect further Australian laws regarding PWC use remains unseen.
