Shock twist in Yarra River crash that ‘disgusted’ Australians after a motorboat capsized a rower and continued along the water without stopping to help
The owner of a boat rental company appears to blame a rower for capsizing after the vessel collided with a motorboat on the Yarra River.
Video footage of the incident, which saw a rower clinging to his capsized vessel after trying to avoid a GoBoat that crossed his path, sparked a fiery online debate about boating etiquette on Melbourne’s main waterway.
Many social media users pointed the blame at the GoBoat riders, but GoBoat Melbourne co-owner Oliver Swan appeared to blame the rower in a now-deleted comment on social media.
“The rower is at fault, he is rowing backwards downstream on the wrong side of the river (note the rowers on the far right of the river on the right side…”) he wrote under a video of the crash.
Oliver Swan (left), co-owner of Melbourne GoBoat, said the “rower is to blame” for the incident
Mr. Swan’s comment went further, but the rest was not included in the screenshot.
One commenter quickly stepped in to criticize Mr Swan for his comment.
‘You have the details of the people who rented this boat. They provided no assistance to the rower after the collision,” they said.
Ny Breaking Australia contacted Mr Swan to clarify his comment.
Social media users were divided over who was responsible for the capsizing incident.
The response of the boat’s occupants – who did not appear to help when the rower was in trouble – was also heavily scrutinized.
“Absolutely disgusting behavior from these women,” one person wrote.
A second agreed: ‘WOW THEY KEEP CONTINUE??!’
Others were concerned about the rower’s safety.
“This guy could have easily tipped over into the propeller,” one person wrote.
“They should have a duty of care to turn around as there are bull sharks etc in that water,” another added.
Video footage of the incident has sparked heated debate online about who was to blame
Mr Swan brought GoBoats to Melbourne in 2019 with co-owner Andrew Ferguson after seeing the success of the rental boats at Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra in recent years.
“I walked the Yarra a few times and just thought, ‘What an opportunity, what a great way to see the city,’” Mr Swan told Broadsheet in 2019.
GoBoats, which originated in Copenhagen in 2014, offers groups of up to eight people the opportunity to rent a boat for up to three hours.
No boating license is required for boat rental.