Anglesea kayaking disaster: Investigation

Transport Safety Victoria (TSV) is investigating a kayak
incident at Anglesea last Tuesday (May 3, 2016) which led to six students and two teachers
being rescued and the loss of all vessels.  

As part of the investigation, TSV is looking into
the actions of the company that hired out the kayaks (Great Ocean Road
Adventure Tours) and the planning and approval processes for such activities
that were followed by Brauer College in Warrnambool.

Discussions will also be
had with the Department of Education and Training. TSV's investigation will
determine whether any breaches of marine safety law have occurred.

TSV's Director of Maritime Safety, Peter Corcoran,
said he had serious concerns about the actions of all involved in the incident,
particularly on a day when the weather conditions were forecast to be severe.

"Despite the weather warnings for this week, we're dismayed to see people
continuing to put themselves and others at risk," said Mr Corcoran.

"It is difficult to understand how any boater would consider the severe
weather warnings in place to represent safe boating conditions.

"In this recent incident, the eight kayakers fell out of their kayaks
and spent almost an hour in the water approximately 1km off Anglesea Beach. Luckily
they were all wearing lifejackets."

TSV has revealed that this incident is almost identical to the one that
occurred in Torquay in April 2006 where 16 students from Lara Secondary College
were swept out to sea while canoeing in very poor weather.

"We're
taking this latest incident very seriously as there have been too many deaths
and near misses in recent years involving paddle craft," said Mr Corcoran.

"Our strong advice to boaters is
to always check the weather using a marine weather forecast before heading out,
as well as checking how conditions are set to
develop over the course of their trip." More on Safe Sea Kayaking in Victoria here.