Last Updated on September 1, 2023
Northland, New Zealand – A Far North company has been ordered to pay more than $400,000 after a Korean tourist was killed in a sandboarding accident.
The company, Sand Safaris, was found guilty of exposing the tourist, 68-year-old Jin Chang Oh, to the risk of harm or illness. Oh was on a tour with the company when he was run over by a bus while sandboarding down the dunes and killed in front of his family.
The company had been aware of the risk of sandboarders being hit by vehicles, but had not taken adequate steps to prevent it. The judge said that the company’s remorse was questionable, as it had tried to partly blame the victim for the accident.
The company was fined $200,000 and ordered to pay $130,000 in reparation to the victim’s family. The reparation also includes $53,209.32 for consequential losses the Oh family suffered as a result of their loved one’s death, and $22,136.63 for 50% of WorkSafe’s prosecution cost.
The total fine and reparation amount is NZ$405,345.95 (around US$256,000).
The company has since stopped offering sandboarding tours.
The accident happened on February 4th, 2019, when Oh was on a tour with Sand Safaris after visiting Cape Reinga. He went down the sand dune and was struck by the back wheels of another Sand Safaris bus at the bottom. He died from head injuries.
The company’s lawyer had previously argued that Oh was partly to blame for the accident, as he had not followed the company’s instructions, possibly due to language barriers. However, the judge said that the company was ultimately responsible for his safety.
Two years before Oh’s death, a similar accident occurred at the same location when a boy was hit by a vehicle.
The company that operated the bus, Far North Tourism, had been warned about the risks of sandboarders being hit by vehicles, but had not taken adequate steps to prevent it.
The company claimed that Oh had been given instructions on how to slow down and that observers at the bottom of the dune were supposed to keep an eye out for incoming vehicles and ask them to stop if needed.
However, the judge found that these instructions were inadequate and that the company had not done enough to ensure the safety of its customers.
This is not the first sandboarding-related death in New Zealand. In 2009, 24-year-old Thomas Donaldson, a tourist from England, died after falling from his board and hitting his head on a rock.
Read also: Sandboarding in New Zealand
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