Coroner finds alcohol, swollen river factor in Jordan Adams’ drowning

Jordan Adams had been drinking with his workmates for most of the day when they decided to jump into a fast-flowing and swollen river.

The 18-year-old was a confident swimmer and made it back to shore. But, he wasn't so lucky on his second jump, surfacing only briefly before disappearing beneath the murky water.

His body was discovered later that night at the mouth of Waiwhakaiho River near New Plymouth.

Now a coroner has found the level of alcohol consumed and the state of the river that day both played a role in the November 2021 tragedy.

Following his death, Adams' father Simon raised over $37,000 for Surf Life Saving New Zealand by running four marathons on four consecutive weekends in 2022.

"He was confident around the water and still made a wrong choice jumping into the river," Simon Adams told NZME at the time.

"I think a lot of drownings in New Zealand happen [because of] simple things, like not putting on a life jacket or not worrying about weather conditions, and jumping straight into the water."

Simon Adams said his son was a confident swimmer, had been involved with the Ōpunake Surf Life Saving Club as a child, and loved to water ski

"He lived life to the full. He really did. It was quite amazing how much he packed into 18 years, which means there are lots of memories to hang on to," he said.

"At the same time, it's a double-edged sword, with so much potential that he never got to live out."

Coroner Heidi Wrigley decided that an inquest was not necessary to determine the cause of death and instead made her findings on the papers.

In those findings she noted that the Waiwhakaiho River was flowing very high due to high rainfall in Egmont National Park which feeds the river.

Adams worked for an electrical contracting company and had been at a work function since 10am, after which he and his colleagues travelled to Ōpunake and began drinking.

At about 3.30pm they left Ōpunake and travelled North to Ōakura where they had some food and continued drinking at a bar.

Adams' manager said he didn't believe the group were too intoxicated and were in "good spirits".

Another member of the group said they'd been drinking all day and had consumed roughly 10-12 standards each.

'Far too dangerous'

The group returned to the workshop at about 5pm and made a collective decision to walk to the bank of the nearby river to go for a swim.

One of the members described the river as "way too high and was far too dangerous" as well as being in flood.

Another member of the group reported that the water looked "really dirty", and the water level was "very high … and flowing fast too".

Photos of the river provided to the coroner for the inquiry showed areas of rapids and whitewater, while the river appeared swollen with brown-coloured water.

Three of the work group jumped in, with Adams going first and having no apparent difficulty swimming back to the water's edge. Adams then went back up the bank and jumped in again.

Witnesses watched as Adams resurfaced, tried to grab a rock and missed and his manager said he saw him make three or four strokes before disappearing around a bend in the river.

His colleagues then called emergency services for assistance.

Adams was found deceased just after 9pm with injuries to his face.

A pathologist later concluded that drowning was the cause of death and noted that a pattern of injuries to Adams' head and shoulders raised the possibility he had hit his head on the riverbed.

The pathologist also found that Adams' blood alcohol level was 187mg per 100ml of blood. This would have put him above the legal limit to be able to drive.

Coroner Wrigley found that despite Adams not appearing overtly intoxicated, she was satisfied due to the pathologist's findings that he was adversely affected by alcohol at the time of his death.

"One way in which Jordan's acute use of alcohol likely contributed to his death is by compromising his judgement and decision-making. I consider his intoxication helps explain his very unwise decision to jump into a plainly unsafe river not once, but twice.

"Additionally, Jordan's intoxication likely impacted on his co-ordination in a way that made him less able to swim to safety and compromised his ability to cope underwater."

Coroner Wrigley said alcohol played a significant role in river drownings in New Zealand and made recommendations that were supplemented by information provided by Water Safety New Zealand.

Among those recommendations was not to swim in rivers after consuming alcohol and to not swim in rivers that were exhibiting dangerous conditions such as rapids, white water, high flow and muddy water.

This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.

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