At an inquest in Queenstown yesterday, Otago-Southland coroner David Crerar heard the Department of Conservation had removed bridges on the track on May 13, 2014 -standard practice during the Great Walks off-season to avoid avalanche damage - advising of that on its website on May 15.
Signs were also in place at the Doc Te Anau Visitor Centre. However, neither Miss Asmin's boyfriend Sean Mcnabb, of Australia, or an associate they met on the morning of May 19, Sebastian Keilholz, of Germany, were aware bridges had been removed.
Mr Keilholz intended to walk the track independently over four days, as did Miss Asmin and Mr Mcnabb.
The trio met at the Doc Visitor Centre in Te Anau and decided to walk together, heeding advice from Doc to walk as far as Mintaro Hut that day to avoid being at higher altitude during a predicted snowfall.
When contracted avalanche ranger Adrian Braaksma met the group about 3pm, there was "intense rain".
"I thought it was pretty stupid to be out on the track in heavy rain [and] asked where they were going."
He said it would take them about two hours to reach Mintaro Hut and warned them about the "potential challenge" of Pompolona Creek, which he had crossed earlier in the afternoon, advising them to assess it before they crossed.
Mr Keilholz and Mr Mcnabb, supported by his parents Anita Howie and Tony Mcnabb, described reaching the swollen, fast-flowing creek about 3pm, and assessing where best to cross.
Mr Mcnabb crossed first with his pack, followed by Mr Keilholz, who was pulled to the other side of the creek with Mr Mcnabb's walking pole.
Mr Keilholz described the water flow as "hard and fast" and thigh-deep.
Mr Mcnabb then crossed back to Miss Asmin, took her pack, crossing to a half-way point in the creek where there was a rock.
"The plan was for Yessica to travel between us to get across safely," Mr Mcnabb said.
Miss Asmin got to the rock, but Mr Mcnabb slipped, fell into the water and was swept downstream.
He was grabbed by Mr Keilholz, who helped pull him on to a rock.
Despite both men yelling to Miss Asmin to stay put, she "panicked", lost her grip and also fell into the water.
She was swept past the men on the other side of the rock Mr Mcnabb was clinging to, and carried on downstream.
"There was no sound from her, just no movement, completely still," Mr Mcnabb said.
"I could see her red jacket bobbing up and down the stream. It took less than a minute for her to go out of sight."
Mr Keilholz ran after her, yelling for her to grab something but "she didn't make an attempt".
"I think she'd hit her head on a rock and maybe [was] knocked out."
He slipped and fell several times while trying to catch her, hurting his left shoulder and striking his face on rocks, losing two front teeth.
"I was dazed. I sat down. I didn't know what I was doing there.
"I had blood pouring out of my mouth.
"I yelled out Yessica's name over and over. I sat there for about half an hour.
"It was very hard for me -- I did my best, but I couldn't help her."
He returned to Mr Mcnabb, who had activated the personal locator beacon they had been encouraged to hire in Te Anau.
However, after sitting in the dark and freezing conditions waiting for a helicopter to arrive in rain described as "biblical" by Mr Mcnabb, Mr Keilholz decided to continue to Mintaro Hut and get help, arriving there about 7pm.
Later, Mr Mcnabb followed and was assisted by a tramper who had gone to find him.
Weather conditions prevented a helicopter reaching the area until the next day.
Miss Asmin's body was found in the Clinton River on May 21, about 1.8km from where she was last seen.
Mountain Safety Council acting operations manager Nathan Watson said it did not appear the group considered any option other than crossing and did not employ best practice when doing so.
"The decisions and actions of the group were a significant contributing factor.
"Obviously, no bridge was in place and the creek was in a flooded state.
"[They] made the decision to attempt the crossing in conditions that can be described as highly dangerous.
"[It is] the most significant factor that contributed to the accident."
But not having a bridge in place did not result in visitors being exposed to a greater level of risk, he said.
"It is the actions of the visitor that defines the risk ...
"They had the option to wait, or continue on. They made the active decision to attempt the crossing."
The council made several recommendations to the coroner, which included working with Doc to develop a river safety model targeting Milford Track users, and potentially others; and investigate more effective signs in strategic places advising of the dangers in crossing rivers and how to cross.
Following an internal review, Doc had made 14 recommendations, several of which had been implemented.
Those included better communication with stakeholders about changes to track conditions, and a pre-season forum with relevant stakeholders to enable all to understand track management.
Questions from Mr Mcnabb, his parents and Mr Keilholz included why no ground crew was deployed to try to access them when the helicopter could not land.
Mr Crerar told Mr Mcnabb a ground crew would have taken at least four hours to access the area after the helicopter had been stood down, to which Mr Mcnabb responded it was "better to wait three or four hours than 14 hours".
"I accept that's not ideal," Mr Crerar said.
"One of the problems that I have in accepting your comment is that I'm only allowed to decide the circumstances of the death of Yessica and I'm obliged by the evidence to find that she was dead within minutes of being swept away."
Mr Crerar's formal written finding was reserved.
