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Amid re­newed con­cerns about hik­er safe­ty, the Hik­ing As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (HATT) is call­ing for long-stand­ing hik­ing guide­lines to be for­mal­ly recog­nised and en­forced.

The ap­peal fol­lows the death of hik­er Jes­si­ca Jor­don, who be­came trapped and drowned dur­ing a hike on Jan­u­ary 10.

In a press state­ment, HATT said the as­so­ci­a­tion was first formed in 2008 af­ter a sim­i­lar in­ci­dent in the Gua­napo Riv­er Basin, where two hik­ers died. It was of­fi­cial­ly launched in 2017, when sev­er­al recog­nised hik­ing clubs col­lab­o­rat­ed to draft Hik­ing Guide­lines and Codes of Prac­tice for hik­ing as an out­door ad­ven­ture ac­tiv­i­ty in Trinidad and To­ba­go.