Tragedy of rock fall death of twin

A father today paid a moving tribute to the "loyalty and fortitude" of his 16-year-old daughter who was with her twin sister when she was killed by a falling rock on a school trip to South Africa.

Appeal Court judge Sir Alan Ward said the strength shown by his surviving daughter Kate "is our single solace".

He said the family was "still incredulous, still utterly bereft" at the death of Amelia last August. An inquest heard today that a tragic misunderstanding led to the tragedy.

The Ward twins were taking part in abseiling in the KwaZulu-Natal national park with fellow pupils from the City of London School for Girls. When a group of girls asked permission to walk down from where the climbers were descending, their instructor never realised they intended to go right to the bottom of the face.

A rock was dislodged and hit Amelia on the back of the head, killing her instantly. The girls were not wearing helmets. Westminster Coroner, Dr Paul Knapman, said: "Herein is the tragedy. The instructor thought one thing, the girls thought something else."

He said no one had been reckless; there were plenty of adults supervising the group, who were sensible and wellbehaved. "It seems there were two understandable mistakes - insufficient appreciation on the part of the girls of where they were, and a misunderstanding by the man in charge," said Dr Knapman.

Five days ago, two school teachers were heavily criticised for their part in the deaths of two schoolgirls, swept away in a swollen river in North Yorkshire. Today, however, the organisers of the Duke of Edinburgh Award trip to South Africa were exonerated.

Such trips develop self-confidence and a sense of adventure, said the coroner. "Risks should be minimised yet cannot be eliminated."

A 17-year-old friend of Amelia's, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described the moment the falling rock hit. "It seemed like there was like a stumble and some noise at the top and I realised a rock was falling down," she said.

"It didn't look as if it was coming towards us but it hit the rock face and bounced out and hit the back of Amelia's head. She wasn't looking up and wasn't aware of it at all." Amelia fell and appeared to have been killed instantly.

The girl said she thought it had been obvious to their instructor that they were going right to the bottom, not just to one side where they could have watched their friends abseiling in safety. "He thought one thing and the rest of you thought something else," said the coroner. The girl agreed.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who supported the family after the tragedy, and whose son, Matthew, had dated Amelia, was at today's inquest. She left making no comment. The trip was organised by Outposts Ltd, a Somerset firm which has been running adventure trips for four years. Director Mrs Catherine Kingscote was at the top of the rocky outcrop when Amelia died. She told how one of the boys in the group was abseiling down when he dislodged a boulder.

"The boy shouted, 'Rock' as he was taught," she said. "Before he could do anything it had hit Amelia and there was screaming from the bottom that someone had been hit." Mrs Kingscote said she had been "completely surprised" to learn that any girls were at the bottom of the abseiling pitch.

The instructor in charge of the activity, Mark Calverley, said in a statement that he was completely unaware that a group of girls was walking to the bottom. A colleague told him that someone had been hit and he immediately went down to investigate. "I saw Amelia... there was blood on her head and she was immobile."

Kate sat beside her father at Westminster Coroner's Court today but did not give evidence. Outside the court, Sir Alan said of the accidental death verdict recorded by the coroner: "It is the only verdict that was open for him to reach in a case like this. We fully accept it as such."