QUEENSLAND — A 50-year-old South Australian man plunged to his death in a zipline accident in Queensland, Australia, on Tuesday (Oct 22). 

 His 48-year-old wife was also seriously injured.

The accident occurred at a popular tourist attraction at Camelot Close at Cape Tribulation in Daintree rainforest.

The circumstances leading to the fall are unclear, but eye witnesses who spoke to local media in Queensland said the pair, who were harnessed together, fell 16m after the rainforest zipline snapped.

Emergency services were called to the attraction at around 2pm on Tuesday, and the man — identified as Dean Sanderson — was pronounced dead at the scene. His wife, Shannon, was flown by a rescue helicopter to Cairns Base Hospital. 

According to news.com.au, a Queensland Ambulance spokesperson said that the woman is in serious but stable condition. 

American tourists present at the scene said that after the couple fell, the women called out the man’s name, but there was no response.

The American couple had just finished the same section of the tour when they saw the couple fall to the ground.

"There was a loud noise, we turned around, one of the lines had snapped and we saw them fall. It was very scary, they fell from very high up," Ms Samantha Sayler, one of the American tourists who witnessed the incident, told news agency 7 News Brisbane.

Meanwhile, company director Phoebe Kitto of Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours, which runs the zipline tour, released a statement offering her deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

Ms Kitto added that the incident will be “thoroughly investigated” by workplace health and safety officers and the tour company will be offering counselling to staff and patrons. AGENCIES