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RAF officer dies during mountain adventure

Feb 2 2005

by Linda Roberts, North Wales Weekly Newspapers series

 

A MOTHER whose only child died during RAF adventure training when she plunged 300ft on a mountain claimed the tragedy could have been prevented.

Retired teacher Anne Bond, of Southport, said her 25-year-old RAF officer daughter Elizabeth was terrified of heights.

"She had no experience of mountaineering. The RAF have already given me an apology and say they've put in place a new set of regulations. This was an accident that could have been prevented - those were the first words of the apology," she said after an inquest jury returned a verdict of misadventure.

Flight Lieutenant Bond, based at RAF College Cranwell in Lincolnshire, slipped on Snowdon in November 2001. The inquest heard she had tragically failed to heed advice to clip herself to a sling around a boulder.

Coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones said: "Had she clipped to the tape, when she lost her footing she would have been hanging on the tape and been able to recover her footing. This is a preventable accident. The safety equipment was there but not used.

"I am certain Elizabeth Bond wasn't aware of the danger she was in. She felt she could cope adequately with the scramble that would finish off the activity."

She had "horrendous" injuries.

Miss Bond was training for a career in supply management. She was with a party of a dozen students and two instructors operating out of Fairbourne base in Gwynedd when the tragedy happened. The inquest jury called for a review of the instructor-student ratio and of risk assessment. The coroner said: "I will convey those views to the RAF and Ministry of Defence."

 

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