The Otago coroner looking into the deaths of two men who drowned during a collision between a jet-boat and jet ski has recommended wearing life jackets be made compulsory for all small-boat users.
Coroner David Crerar this week released his findings into the 2009 Kawarau River collision, in which jet-boat occupants Laurence Brett Singleton (51) and Anton Oskar Woitasek (34), both of Queenstown, were killed and three others injured, two seriously.
The two men in the boat, along with another passenger, Paul Kurt Singleton of Auckland, were fishing on the incorrect side of the river.
On a blind bend on the way home, they met and collided with the jet ski, which had two people on board.
Mr Crerar said if Mr Singleton had been wearing a life jacket and had been recovered promptly - and it was quite likely he would have been - he probably would not have drowned.
He said Mr Woitasek could have been treated for his injuries and also survived if he had worn a life jacket.
The injuries sustained by the men "probably resulted" from hitting the boat's dashboard and/or windshield with the back of their heads before entering the water unconscious.
Based on these findings, Mr Crerar recommended a national initiative to make the wearing of life jackets compulsory for all users of small boats, with a preference for devices designed to support an unconscious person face up in the water.
The life jackets should also be in a colour that would make those wearing them easy to find in a search, he said.
Considering the life-threatening head injuries received by Emma Eckhold, of Invercargill, who was in a coma for several weeks after the accident, he recommended that Maritime New Zealand commission further research into use of helmets by watercraft users.
Many factors contributed to the collision, Mr Crerar said.
The boat was on the incorrect side of the river, and both jet-boat and jet ski were travelling too fast and not navigating with all due caution and care, he said.
