An eleven-year-old girl was killed when she was thrown off a banana boat, at a children’s birthday party. It is thought that Mari-Simon Cronje hurled forwards and smashed into the back of the speedboat which was towing the 20ft inflatable. The 22-year-old watersports instructor, who was driving the speedboat at the time was arrested but has now been released on bail.
A banana boat is an inflatable yellow craft, that is towed by a speed boat and reach’s a speed of up to 35mph. Riders of the inflatable sit one in front of the other, whilst the driver of the speed boat tries to bounce the banana by doing sharp turns. The idea is that all passengers of the inflatable will eventually fall off into the water.
Mari-Simon lived with her wealthy South African-born parents Andries and Ancia, along with her brother Andre-Pierre, in a £1 million five-bedroom home in Putney. She was a pupil at Ibstock Place School, a private £4,000-a-term day school on the edge of Richmond Park, in Roehampton, South west London.
When the accident took place Mari-Simon and several other girls were been towed on the inflatable by a two-man motorboat around one of the lakes at the Princess Club in Bedfont, west London. It is one of Europe’s biggest watersports centres. The accident happened on Saturday afternoon. Police and paramedics arrived on the scene, and Mari-Simon was taken to West Middlesex Hospital where she died.
In a statement issued through police yesterday, her family said: “Our beautiful 11-year-old daughter was killed in a tragic watersports accident on Saturday afternoon at Princes Club, Bedfont, near Feltham. She was a guest at a children’s birthday party. We are still battling to come to terms with the news.”
The club has now been closed until further notice. Mari-Simon’s death is being probed by specialist maritime accident investigators as well as Scotland Yard detectives. A post mortem is expected to be carried out today.
Tragedies like this are awful to hear about, a young school girl who had her entire life ahead of her. At The Injury Lawyers we deal with injury claims on a day-to-day basis and would like to pay our respect to the beautiful Mari-Simons. If you know of someone who’s been involved in an accident like Mari-Simons and wish to speak to somebody then The Injury Lawyers are only a phone call away.
