Push to lift resort safety

The family of a 26-year-old Blenheim honeymooner tragically killed a year ago in Fiji has spent the last 12 months trying to raise public awareness of lax safety measures in many exotic holiday locations. Few people appear to be taking any notice, ALEX VAN WEL of the Christchurch Press reports.

"I've just got to do as much as I can, as much as Rebecca would have expected me to do. I can't really do anything else," said Mark Crawley on the phone from the UK, his voice beginning to crack up with emotion and fatigue.

A year after the death of his daughter, Rebecca Stockwell (nee Crawley) in Fiji, the feelings of loss are clearly no less intense.

"I will be working for my little lady till the day that I die, no matter what happens. Such is life," he said.

Mark Crawley, an inventor and entrepreneur, currently divides his time between Britain, America and New Zealand.

In May he, his ex-wife and Rebecca's mother, Heather Richards, and maritime engineer John Smart (father of Sounds murder victim Ben Smart) set up Forever 26, a charitable trust aimed at improving safety awareness in Fiji.

Rebecca was killed in what first appeared to be a freak boating accident at the Matamanoa Resort in the west Fijian Mamanuca islands. On the second day of an exotic holiday she was fatally injured by the propeller of a speedboat while in a swimming area.

The 26-year-old was on honeymoon with her husband, Hayden, and died only six days after the two were married in Blenheim.

A Fijian man, 27-year-old Tomasi Natutuvuli Tovou, will go on trial for manslaughter early next year. It is alleged that he negligently drove the boat into a restricted area.

Crawley blames the death on a failure to put standard safety mechanisms in place.

"This is not about being vindictive, this is about education," he said. "A $199 propeller guard on their own in-shore craft and Rebecca almost certainly would have been alive. And a boom-buoy system that marked their own channel out, their own boating channel, which we would estimate at around $1000, and Rebecca would definitely be alive . . . categorically."

There is little doubt that Rebecca's death sent a shockwave through the Fijian tourism industry.
Josefa Qarase, a marine surveyor with the Fijian Maritime Safety Authority, told The Press it boosted an initiative to raise standards.

"There have been ongoing awareness programmes conducted with all the small boat operators, but we've stepped it up," he said.

Qarase said there had been further incidents since last year, but none of them involved loss of life.

He said he was not in a position to say whether there had been a specific effort to ensure that all resort boats were now fitted with propeller guards.

From Australia, a spokesman for the Lonely Planet guidebooks said that judging by the feedback it received on its website, Fijian resorts had not been highlighted as wanting in terms of general safety. Raphel Richards added that looking specifically at water safety in resorts around the world, the main criticisms related to diving.

"Travellers who do contact us are often concerned with the level of qualifications, maintenance of equipment and site selection for these courses," he said. "We haven't received any specific concerns regarding Fiji . . . it's usually where diving is popular."

But Mark Crawley believes that Rebecca's death shone a light on a much deeper and universal problem with travel to exotic resorts.

"We as human beings abdicate responsibility in situations like going on holiday," he said. "We have this mental thing that if you are paying $600 a night for accommodation, then therefore you must be getting value in everything."

He argues that while travel brochures routinely provide detail on meals, rooms and environment, few offer the same focus on safety.

The chief executive of New Zealand's Travel Agents Association, Paul Yeo, agreed.

"I have to admit safety standards and issues like that aren't usually top of most people's list. A lot of people don't have an interest. It's only after the fact that something goes wrong, sadly."

Yeo said price was usually the overwhelming concern, and he welcomed a re-examination of safety information in travel guides.

"It is when there are issues that these things get raised. So, I think it is great that people are raising these issues because it is essentially market-led."

With permission of the Press.