New Zealand opens inquest into hiker’s death

QUEENSTOWN, New Zealand – An inquest into the death of an Australia-based hiker in New Zealand is about to open in Queenstown just days after the anniversary of the incident.

QUEENSTOWN, New Zealand – An inquest into the death of an Australia-based hiker in New Zealand is about to open in Queenstown just days after the anniversary of the incident.

Yessica Asmin, a 22-year-old Sydney-based Indonesian student, died after being swept into the raging Clinton River on May 19, 2014, while hiking on the Milford Track.

Her body was found two days later.

A coroner’s inquest is scheduled to begin in Queenstown District Court on Tuesday.

Ms Asmin was walking the track with her boyfriend Sean McNabb and German backpacker Sebastian Keiholz when they tried to cross a stream.
The two men made it across but Ms Asmin got caught on a rock in the middle and panicked and fell, according to reports at the time.

The group got information from a visitor centre and spoke to a contractor on the track in heavy rain who advised them of the dangers of the particular creek about an hour before they reached it.

The death prompted a review by the Department of Conservation into the safety of hiking routes in the South Island.

Ms Asmin was due to finish her marketing degree at the University of New South Wales a month after the trip.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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