The owner of a paddleboard tour company in South Wales has admitted manslaughter after the deaths of four people in an incident during “extremely hazardous conditions” in October 2021, according to BBC News.
Nerys Bethan Lloyd, who owned the now dissolved company that operated paddleboard tours out of Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, appeared at a sitting of Swansea Crown Court on Wednesday (5 March) where it was heard she did not have the necessary qualifications.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, four people died after an incident on the Cleddau River on 30 October 2021 where a number of paddleboards were pulled over the top of a weir in fast-flowing conditions.
Nicola Wheatley (40), Morgan Rogers (24) and Paul O’Dwyer (42) — the latter of whom was an instructor who re-entered the water in an attempt to rescue the others — died at the scene. A fourth person, Andrea Powell (41), was recovered from the water but later died in hospital.
The court heard that the incident was “an avoidable tragedy”, and that Lloyd failed to check the state of the weir before the group set out.
BBC News has more on the story HERE.
