THE Murray River again provided news for all the wrong reasons in 2014.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
While the woes of the drought years have largely evaporated, drownings continued to cause heartache on the Border.
Three Border drownings occurred on the river, and a May report declared the Murray the number one site of inland drownings in Australia.
Afghani man Abdul Ahsani, who had only lived in Albury for four months, drowned at Nouriel Park in January.
Seven weeks later, a Warrnambool woman, 61, died after last being seen walking her dog on the riverbank near Yarrawonga. Her body was found in the Murray, west of the township, 24 hours later.
Then Lavington man Roger Bradney died after falling into the river on December 3.
He had been fishing with his friend Mark Kendrick when their boat tipped at Bungowannah, a site Mr Kendrick said they had fished “a thousand times”.
“The river was a bit nasty that day,” Mr Kendrick said in the days after the incident.
Speaking in May while dispensing with an inquest into the drowning of Jovica Djukic, Magistrate Tony Murray said “the apparently placid and calm waters of the Murray River are in reality a potentially fatal experience, even for strong swimmers”.
Mr Djukic died on December 21, 2013, and a post mortem blood sample gave a blood alcohol reading of 0.253.
The Royal Life Saving Society research released in May reported 43 deaths on the river between July 1, 2002, and June 30, 2012.
And while barriers have been erected in a bid to stop people jumping off Union Bridge, it was revealed in January that it continued to happen. The gaps were later closed.
