Rex Martinich
A father fell to his death riding a tandem zipline in a rainforest that had been booked as part of a “bucket list” holiday, a coroner has heard.
An inquest into Dean Anson Sanderson’s death in far north Queensland was told the 50-year-old first thought staff were playing a prank before he fell up to 25 metres alongside his wife Shannon.
The tragedy occurred after the Adelaide father-of-three and mine project manager had taken a tandem zipline tour at Cape Tribulation, 140 kilometres north of Cairns, on October 22, 2019.
The couple’s holiday was part of a goal to see the far north while they still could, Shannon Sanderson told coroner Wayne Pennell in Brisbane on Monday.
“He was enjoying life. He had been through a pretty terrible health situation a couple of years before and I think he saw the world in a different way,” she said.
“We wanted to start ticking stuff off his bucket list, which was what this trip was about.”
Dean Sanderson was the first on the rainforest zipline, in which riders wear a harness attached to a steel cable to glide across the canopy.
He was joined by his wife, with the pair set to traverse an 86-metre section of wire between two towers, counsel assisting April Freeman previously told Pennell.
“Approximately midway across the zipline length they lost momentum and started to fall,” Freeman said.
“A loud sound or bang was heard and others felt the tower vibrating. They then saw the Sandersons fall to the forest below.”
Shannon Sanderson was seriously injured and spent 10 days in hospital.
Witnesses told Pennell the Sandersons had joked with staff about not pausing the zipline halfway down the line for a photo.
“Just get me there as fast as you can,” Shannon Sanderson said she told staff.
She said she felt a sudden drop after starting a fast descent on the ride.
“I remember screaming and I think Dean said to me ‘they’re probably just playing around with us’,” she said.
“The next thing I recall I woke up on the jungle floor.”
Shannon Sanderson said she called out to her husband but did not get a response.
“I screamed out for help and it was a good five minutes later some of the staff arrived with another tourist.”
The tourist first on scene was Steve Pattinson, who testified on Monday his medical training with the Thredbo Ski Patrol had kicked in.
Pattinson told staff he needed to leave the zipline and attend to the Sandersons.
“They had no idea. They were all young, in their very early 20s,” Pattinson said.
The zipline had good equipment available such as a defibrillator and an oxygen mask but Pattinson had to use them himself, Pennell heard.
“I think they were shown the equipment but had never used it. I took control of the scene. I was just trained to do it. Somebody had to,” Pattinson said.
Pattinson and multiple staff took turns trying to revive Dean Sanderson for about 90 minutes before paramedics arrived and later declared him dead.
The Cape Tribulation zipline ride, Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours, was run by a company called Keydane.
Keydane stopped operating on the day of the incident and is no longer registered, Ms Freeman previously told the coroner, with Treetops Adventure taking over the zipline.
The inquest is due to run for another six days.
AAP