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Africa zip wire death plunge
A SHEFFIELD University graduate fell to her death from a zip wire in Africa – minutes after another woman slipped during the same activity and without the safety equipment being checked again, an inquest heard.
Sally Witcomb, aged 32, who had a degree in engineering from Sheffield University, had gone to Namibia to follow her dream of travelling and working with children.
But shortly after arrival in the country, she plummeted from a height of 23 feet after her harness became detached at an outdoor centre in Windhoek.
The former Guide leader, from Cheam, Surrey, was finishing her training with Raleigh International Expeditions, a company specialising in gap-year programmes abroad, when she embarked on the outdoor activity along with other volunteers.
Ms Witcomb was the seventh person to take part in the activity on March 26 2007, Croydon Coroner's Court, in south London, heard.
But Ms Witcomb, who was taking part in a team-building exercise, slipped seconds after she took hold of a t-bar on the overhead zip wire – the "highest risk activity" of the day.
She fell feet first from the high wire but pivoted to a horizontal position as a safety rope pulled taut. She then continued to fall to the ground.
Dr Louise Powell, who was on site at the time, said Ms Witcomb landed on her head and neck, just before 9.30am. She was "grey and not breathing", she said in a statement read by the coroner
Raleigh employee James Clements, who was assisting with the activity, said he could not say what had caused Ms Witcomb to fall.
He told the inquest: "The only conclusion I can draw, based on the information I have available and what I saw on the day, was that she fell, the safety system initially stopped her with a jerk causing her to pivot forward but then somewhere, the system failed."
But the assistant, who had only been in Namibia for four days and had little experience using the equipment, said no one had checked it following an earlier fall.
When questioned on the safety procedures at the site, Stacey Adams, Raleigh International's chief executive, refuted any suggestion an adequate risk assessment had not been carried out.
A post-mortem examination showed Ms Witcomb died from multiple injuries.
The hearing continues.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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