Inquiries & Recommendations

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On Saturday 22 February 2003 at about 1130, the commercial jet boat "Wilderness Jet 3" was travelling downstream on the Dart River, with a driver and 4 passengers on board, when it collided with Private Jet Boat proceeding upstream with a driver and one passenger on board. The boats came to rest on a shingle bank with the commercial boat on top of the private boat. The Private Jet Boat was extensively damaged. Both drivers and 4 of the passengers sustained minor injuries. Safety issues identified included: · the concentration of traffic on the Dart River

Towards the end of the take-off a strong tailwind gust and downdraught was encountered. The aircraft's tailplane struck a fence and the Fletcher sank down a steep face before striking the ground with its left wing and coming to rest against a tree.

On Tuesday, 29 June 1999 at approximately 1400 hours, an empty diesel multiple unit which had been parked on the suburban platform road at Papakura ran away towards the down main line at the north end of the station into the path of Train 3149, which was approaching from the north to the suburban platform road. The locomotive engineer of Train 3149 was able to stop his train before any collision occurred. No injuries resulted and there was no damage sustained. The safety deficiency identified was the lack of security when diesel multiple units were left unattended.

[Occurrence invesigated by TAIC for the Government of Samoa. The Secretary for Transport of Samoa approved this report for general release by TAIC.]

[A preliminary investigation showed that the circumstances were not likely to have significant implications for transport safety. Consistent with section 13 of the TAIC Act the Commission discontinued the investigation and no report was published.]

New Zealand has completed its support for this inquiry. Please note, TAIC will not be producing a report for this inquiry.

Following an early morning departure to hunt deer, the helicopter failed to rendezvous with ground crew. ELT transmissions enabled searchers to locate the wreckage of the helicopter by midday. While retrieving a shot deer from a riverbed, a wind gust had drifted the helicopter toward nearby trees. The main rotor blades contacted an unseen overhanging branch and during the ensuing descent on to rocks below the shooter fell from the helicopter receiving serious injuries from which he died before rescuers reached the scene.

On Monday 2 May 2005 shortly after 1911, the ferry "Santa Regina" outbound from Picton collided with the inbound private launch "Timeless" in the vicinity of Picton Point, Queen Charlotte Sound. The ship had a Master, 31 crew and 71 passengers on board and the Timeless had 2 persons on board. The bow of the ship struck the starboard side of the launch abaft mid-length, cutting the smaller boat in two. One person on the launch managed to escape from the cabin and climb onto a piece of wreckage to await rescue. The body of the other person on the launch was found about 30 minutes later.

On Monday 9 September 2013 at 1336, the NZ Transport Agency notified the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (Commission) of the incident under section 13(4) of the Railways Act 2005. The Commission opened an inquiry under section 13(1) of the Transport Accident Investigation Commission Act 1990, to determine the circumstances and causes of the incident, and appointed an investigator-in-charge.

The Commission investigated a worksite incident on the Main South Line, near Mataura in Southland. A KiwiRail freight train was travelling at line speed (80 km/h) when it passed a group of workers who were close to the track, maintaining a signal system. Initial reports suggest that the drivers of trains on this line were unaware of the temporary speed restriction of 10 km/h that had been authorised for this section of track. In the event, no injuries were reported.

At about 0100 on Monday, 28 December 1998, the container vessel "Gao Cheng" was entering the Port of Nelson with a pilot on board and two tugs in attendance. As the vessel was approaching the entrance to the harbour the pilot reportedly suffered a sudden loss of vision in his right eye.