#KillCord - Police in Cornwall investigating the deaths of a father and daughter in a speedboat accident off Padstow at the weekend are focusing on the boat's 'kill cord', according to BBC News.
BSkyB executive Nick Milligan and his eight-year-old daughter were struck by the family's runaway Cobra RIB after losing control of the vessel and being thrown overboard.
Four other family members in the water struck by the 8m-long boat were hospitalised, with the BBC reporting that Milligan's wife Victoria and four-year-old son Kit suffered "serious, potentially life-changing injuries".
Witnesses describe the speedboat circling to hit the family after turning sharply and throwing them into the water, then continuing to run around in circles before it was stopped by local waterskiing instructor Charlie Toogood who jumped on board.
Investigators are looking closely at the kill cord or safety lanyard, a device attached to a boat's throttle that should automatically cut engine power if the boat's pilot goes overboard.
A malfunctioning kill cord was identified in an incident in Cork Harbour last summer in which a RIB pilot lost an arm after he was thrown overboard and subsequently struck by his runaway vessel, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.
Months before, an angler died and another was treated for hypothermia after being thrown overboard and separated from their vessel, a result of neither man using the kill cord on their boat's engine.
