Jet-boat crash victim was award-winning farmer

The man who died earlier this week following a jet-boat crash on the Hollyford River, in Fiordland National Park, has been identified by police as Shane David Gibbons. 

Mr Gibbons was from the Te Anau basin, where he farmed with his partner Bridget Speight.

Police said they were alerted to the crash at 8.45pm on Monday.

Four people, including Mr Gibbons (50), were on the boat at the time.

A notice in the Otago Daily Times yesterday states a service for Mr Gibbons, who also went by the nickname "Scrub", will be held tomorrow at his farm, Whare Creek.

The crash is the third jet-boat accident in the past two months.

Mr Gibbons and Ms Speight won the 2016 Southland Ballance Farm Environment Award.

The couple farm sheep, beef and dairy support at Whare Creek, on the southern end of the Te Anau basin.

A police spokesman said an investigation into the crash was continuing.


 

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