An Oxford backpacker is fighting for her life in hospital
after plunging 65 feet in the Australian rainforest. Queensland
Police are investigating the accident. Lucy Keen, 24, was visiting Cape Tribulation in Queensland
when she fell from a viewing platform. She had been about to
embark on the Flying Fox ride when the accident happened. The
ride involves people being attached to a harness and then gliding
across a rope connected between two points in the forest,
enabling people to ‘jungle surf ’. Queensland police
said that Keen’s condition was “very serious.”
“If she does survive,” said Dt Sgt Trevor Perham,
“we don’t know what lasting injuries she will
incur.” The Flying Fox ride, which was launched last August, had a
100% safety record until the accident on Saturday. Keith Chegwin
and his television crew are among the many British tourists who
have taken advantage of the opportunity to see the rainforest at
such close quarters. The Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours is run by a
group of biological scientists who use the ride to look at the
flora and fauna of the forest. They charge £27 an hour for the
experience, promising tourists they can “feel like Tarzan or
Jane.” Keen has broken her pelvis and all her ribs in the fall and
remains unconscious in hospital. Her parents have flown from
their home in Oxfordshire to Australia to be at their
daughter’s bedside. Keen was brought up in Oxford and
studied at universities in Leicester and Cardiff.ARCHIVE: 5th week TT 2004
Girl falls from Flying Fox
