Queen’s Coroner Eileen Nervik, on Wednesday (17) in announcing her accidental death ruling said, “This seems to have been a risk or a frolic that went terribly wrong, causing death.”

Nicholas Bush battled in rough waters for 15 minutes in an effort to rescue his friend, Justin Henry (16), after they had both made a 35-foot jump from cliffs at Pedro St. James in Bodden Town, Grand Cayman, on December 26^th, 2012.

The Coroner read statements by various witnesses to a coroner’s jury.

Police scuba divers recovered Henry’s body after a search operation the following day.

An autopsy gave the cause of death as drowning and listed unfavourable sea conditions and “errors of judgment” as contributory factors.

Several witnesses testified that Henry, a student at John Gray High School, was not pushed or pressured into jumping.

A jury recorded a verdict of “death by misadventure”.

Bush said he and Henry had gone to the cliffs at Pedro St. James with a group of friends on Boxing Day [Dec 26] afternoon, and the two of them had jumped into the water within seconds of each other.

Bush had made a previous jump only moments earlier.

He recounted the events:

“I counted down from five to one and then ran and jumped. After jumping I looked up and Justin was in the air. He landed and surfaced and we both laughed and began to swim back to shore.

“I pulled myself up after several attempts in strong waves and then tried to assist Justin. I told him to give me his hand. I tried to pull him up four times. On the fifth time I said I’m not letting go. But a wave came again, my foot slipped and I fell into the water with him. I managed to swim back and climb out of the water again, but I could see Justin was still struggling against the current. I dived back into the water and tried again to pull him back to the flat rock.”

It was then Bush noticed Henry was face down in the water and he had tried to turn him on his back and push him to shore but another wave had hit and he lost sight of his friend.

Because he was tiring himself it took 10 attempts for him to climb back on to the rocks. He had kept shouting out to Henry until the police arrived.

Anther witness, Kristina Jacaban, who had arrived with Henry, confirmed much of Bush’s statement but also said Henry had been reluctant to jump.

Despite rumours that had circulated via social messenger indicating that Henry had been pushed this was not the case.

Cheryl Reichert, a pathologist, who conducted the autopsy said in conclusion, “This teenage boy tragically perished after recreational cliff jumping into turbulent seas off the south coast of Grand Cayman near Pedro St. James. There was no evidence of foul play.”

In a police statement it said the search for Henry’s body was suspended overnight on 26 December because of worsening weather conditions.

The body was recovered the following morning by a team of scuba divers in a crevasse at about 39 feet deep.