THE boyfriend of a former Worcester schoolgirl who died on an adventure trip relived the moment he realised she was dead.

Speaking via video link, Jonny Armour told the court in Queenstown, New Zealand, he stood on the riverbank watching helplessly as guides tried to save Emily Jordan.

As the minutes ticked by he saw her hand sticking up out of the water and watched as her body was recovered.

Twenty-one-year-old Miss Jordan, of Trimpley, near Bewdley, drowned after getting trapped between rocks in the Kawarau River Gorge, near Queenstown.

The former Alice Ottley School (which has now merged with the Royal Grammar School) pupil had been riverboarding with the company Mad Dog.

The company faces three charges of breaking health and safety laws.

Mr Armour told the court the trip guides were too light-hearted in their approach.

He said he and Miss Jordan signed a waiver form against death or injury but that guides did not back it up during the briefing and, if he had known how physically challenging the trip was going to be, the couple would probably not have gone on it in April last year.

One of the guides who failed to rescue Miss Jordan told the court there was nothing he could do to save her.

Black Sheep Adventures Ltd, which trades as Mad Dog River Boarding, and company director Brad McLeod both deny charges under New Zealand’s Health and Safety in Employment Act.

The court also heard how three guides were unable to rescue Miss Jordan because of the way she was trapped under a rock.

The guides did not carry ropes with them on the boat as they were a tangle hazard and deliberately tried to keep things light-hearted in an effort not to scare the group.

The trial continues.