A report has found speed, alcohol and fading light led to a fatal jet boat crash on a remote Fiordland river last year.
One passenger died and two were seriously injured when the jet boat hit a rock in a shallow river channel in March 2019.
A Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report released on Thursday says the driver's blood alcohol was about three times the driving limit.
Insufficient planning, fading light, and too much speed and alcohol made crash more likely, according to the TAIC.
"The Commission found it was virtually certain that the accident happened because alcohol consumption impaired the driver's ability to make good decisions and to operate the jet boat safely," said Aaron Holman, TAIC chief investigator of accidents. "The jet boat's speed meant the driver had less time to make good driving decisions, and in the flat lighting conditions, rocks and other risk features were hard to see, further affecting the driver's ability to set a safe course.
"All of this, and there was insufficient planning. In unfavourable environmental conditions, skippers need to plan their trip thoroughly, drive to the conditions, and recognise the limits of their ability."
There was a spate of jet boat incidents early last year. In late February 2019, Christchurch man Cameron Moore died when his boat careened up a steep bank during the Otago Rivers Jet Boat Race.
That followed an incident a few days earlier in Queenstown, which saw nine tourists injured in a crash on the upper Shotover River.
