THE boyfriend of a former Worcester schoolgirl who died while river boarding in New Zealand wept as he relived the events leading up to her death.

Jonathan Armour was speaking at an inquest into the death of 21-year-old gap year student Emily Jordan.

The couple were on an excursion with the Mad Dog River Boarding Company on April 29, 2008, on the Kawarau river in Queenstown, when Miss Jordan became trapped between submerged rocks.

The pair had met 18 months previously while students at Swansea University – where Miss Jordan graduated with a first class degree in law.

Mr Armour said the river boarding activity was publicised as an “adrenalin rush”.

He described his girlfriend – who had attended the Alice Ottley School in Worcester – as “fun-loving” and “quite adventurous”.

He said she was sporty and could swim very well. She had previously taken part in sailing, scuba diving and white water rafting.

“They said it would be quite physically demanding but as long as you are relatively fit you should be fine and as long as you did what the instructor told you to do everyone would have a good time basically,” he said.

The pair filled out a disclaimer and were given a wet suit, kidney belt, helmet, floatation device and flippers and were shown hand signals which they practised in the water.

Not long into the river boarding trip Mr Armour looked back to see Miss Jordan from Trimpley, near Bewdley, had come off her board.

He wept: “She was struggling to get back on it so I went over to her. I pulled her back onto the board.”

Moments later he looked back again and spotted a board stationary on the water.

“I shouted to the guide there was someone under the water,” he said.

“I then saw Emily’s hand above the water signalling where she was.”

A guide went to look for Miss Jordan but could not locate her beneath the water.

“By that point Emily’s hand wasn’t there,” said Mr Armour.

He saw Miss Jordan’s floatation device and board go down the river before guides from another group managed to free her from the rocks.

By that time she had been underwater for about 20 minutes and attempts to resuscitate her failed.

The extreme sports company has since been found guilty of two Health and Safety in Employment charges and fined about £30,000.

Yesterday Miss Jordan’s father, Chris, called the fine “an insult” to his daughter and family.

“Emily was an exceptionally bright and talented girl,” he told the hearing in Smethwick, West Midlands.

“She was excellent company. She was a natural in water. She was naturally a strong girl. She wasn’t the panicking type.

“She was a very balanced girl and would have worked very hard to have got herself out of the position which we believe she shouldn’t have been in at all.”

Mr Jordan said his daughter should have been wearing a life jacket with more buoyancy and pointed out that the floatation device had no cross strap to secure it to her body and no caribina to attach her to something to pull her out.

He has written to New Zealand’s Prime Minister, resulting in a review of the country’s adventure tourism.

The inquest is expected to conclude today.