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Segway boss dies on Segway

LONDON - Jimi Heselden, 62, the wealthy British owner of the company that makes the two-wheeled Segway, was found dead in a river in northern England after apparently falling off a cliff on one of the vehicles, police said Monday.

LONDON - Jimi Heselden, 62, the wealthy British owner of the company that makes the two-wheeled Segway, was found dead in a river in northern England after apparently falling off a cliff on one of the vehicles, police said Monday.

His body and a Segway personal transporter were found in the River Wharfe, West Yorkshire police said. A witness reported seeing a man fall Sunday over a 30-foot drop into the river near the village of Boston Spa, 140 miles north of London.

Police said the death was not believed to be suspicious.

Mr. Heselden, who bought control of the Bedford, N.H.-based Segway company in December, made his fortune through his firm Hesco Bastion Ltd., which developed a successful blast-wall system that replaced the sandbags once used to protect troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The battery-powered Segway was invented by Dean Kamen, who founded the company in 1999. Kamen could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Segway relies on electricity to recharge its batteries and travels at speeds up to 12.5 m.p.h., the company says on its website.

The lack of information about the circumstances surrounding Mr. Heselden's death prompted new questions about the Segway's safety record. Segways have not been approved in Britain for road use.

Mr. Heselden left school at 15 and worked as a coal miner before becoming a businessman and later a well-known philanthropist.