Canoeist killed by cold water

7:20am Saturday 6th September 2008

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Cold water killed a popular canoeist, a coroner has ruled.

Roger Bates died after he capsized on a river in North Wales.

The intermediate-level canoeist was pinned in the water by another overturned canoe.

An inquest into his death was told the cold water made his heart beat at a dangerous rhythm until it stopped.

The 42-year-old worked as a finance assistant at the University of Sussex in Brighton.

The tragic events unfolded on April 19 during an expedition of 20 members of the university’s canoe club.

The group was canoeing on the River Dee at Llangollen in Denbighshire when Mr Bates capsized.

He managed to cling to a fallen tree, but was trapped when another canoeist also capsized.

The inquest was told how friend Simon Fisher, from Brighton, and Nicholas Ramsden, from Kent, brought Mr Bates to shore and tried to save him.

He was taken to Maelor Hospital in Wrexham where he was pronounced dead.

Deputy coroner John Gittins praised the “very brave efforts” of the other canoeists and said there was nothing they could have done to save him.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, he said he believed the cold water had caused Mr Bates’s heart to stop, leading to his death.