Widow dies in jet-ski accident while on holiday to get over her husband's death

Former pub landlady Pauline Moore, 62, was believed to have been dazzled by the sun and smashed into a reef as she rode the watercraft across a lake in Ontario.

Moments earlier she told her niece: 'I'm just going for a little ride and then I'll come back for a nap on the hammock.'  She suffered fatal injuries in the impact and died instantly.

Holiday tragedy: Pauline Moore was killed when her jet-ski crashed

The tragedy occurred after Pauline, of Whelley, near Wigan, Greater Manchester, had gone to the resort of Bracebridge, north of Toronto, for a five-week trip following the death of her husband Kevin from a brain haemorrhage.

She was staying with her niece Karen Luongo along with other relatives and friends in rented cottages by the McKay Lake. The jet-ski belonged to friends of Karen's husband although there is no suggestion it was faulty.

Disaster struck when Pauline was riding a jet-ski across the water and swerved to avoid a waterboarder.

She rode directly into the path of the sun causing her to be dazzled by rays and unable to see underwater rocks which were marked by a small buoy.

Karen said: 'We are all devastated by what's happened. Pauline was having the time of her life and then this happens.

'She had been out on her jet-ski the previous two days without any problems because they are not hard to drive.

'You thought you didn't need a licence and all our kids use them. Pauline wasn't going particularly fast and the lake wasn't that busy either.

'I was the one who pushed her off from the shore. She said: "I'm just going for a little ride and then I'll come back from a nap on the hammock".'

'The sun was bright and quite low so it maybe it dazzled her. Those who saw the crash said she swerved as if she was trying to avoid something like a waterboarder. There was a marker on the rocks but it wasn't very big.'

Pauline, who used to work as an office clerk and care worker, will be buried alongside her husband, a former rugby player who died two and a half years ago.

Devastated: Karen Luongo (right) pictured with her aunt days before the accident

Her sister-in-law Mavis Stanway said: 'It was only in the last 12 months that she was starting to overcome the lost of Kevin.

'Her mother had also passed away in the past three years and life for Pauline had been quite tough. She was really living life to the full having already been to Canada for Karen's wedding and also a holiday in Australia.

'The one thing we are hanging on to from this terrible situation is that she did not suffer. The coroner has said death was instantaneous and that she wouldn't have known anything about it.

'It is also perhaps a blessing that she and Kevin didn't have children. We are only hearing things from Canada second hand but we wondered whether there has to be some kind of investigation.'

Pauline's neighbour Florence Catterall said: 'I am devastated because Pauline was so bubbly and had lots of friends.

'She was a rambler and was always swimming at local baths and out in her car and going on holidays. She certainly liked travel and was really looking forward to going back to Canada.'

Pauline's body is expected to be flown back to Britain on Friday.

An Ontario police department report said a licence was required to ride the jet-ski and added: 'Mrs Moore hadn't received any formal marine training and had only brief instruction on the operation of the watercraft prior to the accident. The investigation continues.'