Dean Anson Sanderson and his wife Sharon fell from a zip line that lost momentum between two platforms, a court recently heard

Dean Sanderson.Credit : GoFundMe

A man fell 82 feet to his death from a zip line while on a “bucket list” trip with his wife in Australia.

Dean Anson Sanderson, 50, and his wife Sharon Sanderson plunged to the ground at Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours at Cape Tribulation in north Queensland on Oct. 22, 2019. “Approximately midway across the zipline length, they lost momentum and started to fall,” attorney April Freeman previously said in court.

Having gone first on the zip line, the father of three sustained fatal head and chest injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Sharon suffered serious injuries, including broken ribs and a fractured scapula.

She recently revealed to a court that their decision to go zip-lining came after suffering from “a pretty terrible health situation,” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the Sydney Morning Herald and The Cairns Post reported.

“Dean was a fun-loving person, he was very charismatic and loved his family,” Sharon told the court, per ABC. “From a work perspective, he took work very seriously … he took safety very seriously.”

Cape Tribulation rainforest in Queensland, Australia.Getty

“He was enjoying life … he’d been through a pretty terrible health situation a few years before,” she continued, adding, “He started seeing the world differently. He wanted to start ticking things off his bucket list.”

Sharon recalled to the court that they fell around 65 to 82 feet during the zip between two platforms, which had a distance of 86 metres, per ABC.

“We were going quite fast … we started to go lower … then there was quite a sudden drop, I remember screaming,” Sharon told the court.

She recalled Dean telling her that “they’re probably just playing around with us.” However, she then woke on the ground to see her husband unconscious.

Having screamed for help, according to ABC, Sharon testified that “a good five minutes” went by before staff and another tourist came to assist them.

Dean Sanderson.GoFundMe

Sharon, who was a former cardiac nurse, claimed to the court that the staff didn’t know how to use the defibrillator on her husband’s body and that the other tourist had to instruct them, according to ABC.

Steve Pattinson, the tourist who arrived at the scene, gave evidence of his medical training in court on Monday, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. He recalled telling staff that he wanted to leave the zip line so he could help the couple.

“They had no idea. They were all young, in their very early 20s,” Pattinson said of the employees, per the outlet. “I think they were shown the equipment, but had never used it. I took control of the scene. I was just trained to do it. Somebody had to.”

Pattinson and the staff spent around 90 minutes trying to revive Dean before paramedics arrived at the scene and pronounced him deceased, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Andrew Hayward, who was also in the same tour group as Dean and Sharon, also testified. He told the court that he heard a “crack” as the platform began to shake while he waited to be hooked into the next section of the zip line, per ABC.

He and his partner were then lowered down after staff called a “code red.”

Police car in Queensland, Australia.Alamy

Hayward claimed that he suffered torn ligaments off his kneecap and that the staff did not offer him aid before he was treated at Cairns Hospital.

He added that he and others were made to go back on the minibus without being told that Dean had died.

The Cape Tribulation zipline ride, Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours, was run by Keydane, which is now no longer registered, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours is listed on Google as permanently closed.

The court proceedings remain ongoing.

SOURCE: https://people.com/new-details-tourist-fell-to-his-death-zip-lining-bucket-list-trip-11917024