SKIERS RESCUED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 264, 20 August 1936, Page 5

SKIERS RESCUED.

NINE DAYS WITHOUT FOOD.

ONE NOT EXPECTED TO LIVE.

United Press Association —Copyright;

(Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. The missing skiers, Clive Cole and Michael Bull, were found at the spot where their companion, Howard Mitchell, left them on Friday in order to seek help. Hull was able to struggle to liis feet when the rescuers arrived at 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday. Both men had to be carried five miles to the nearest packhorses. The men had been without food for nine days, exposed to the worst blizzard within the memory of local residents. Cole is delirious and is not expected to live, in spite of the skill and care of the medical .attendants and nurses. Hull, although too weak to walk, is making a good recovery. Ho is cheerful. Both he and Cole are now at Glen Valley, a tiny mining village 13 miles from the spot where they were lost.

Hull told his rescuers, a party of seven expert cattlemen and bushmen, that he and his companion were on short rations for three days and without food for seven days. They had only six matches, which they exhausted trying to light a fire in the snowencrusted, soaked timbers. Cole kept up his spirits until Monday night, when he became convinced that Mitchell had not got through. Hull and Cole are suffering severely from frostbite. Their rescuers came upon them in a strange way. Just when they were giving up hope, a member of the search party from the top of a ravine shouted loudly and ho heard a faint whistle in reply. He then saw Hull struggle from the bush, clinging to trees himself. The party carried tfie pair 'on improvised stretchers through foi bidding country, and the deepest ravines, often wading waist deep in icy water with their human burdens. It was raining all last night. Altogether 120 men, including the whole of the Glen Valley miners, were engaged in the search, some members of which are not expected to return for several days. COLE SUCCUMBS TO INJURY. (Received This Day, 10.55 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. Cole, who was aged 37, died in hospital. Hull is recovering.