CHARABANC ACCIDENT

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 56, 7 March 1921, Page 5

CHARABANC ACCIDENT

MISS WILSON'S DEATH. THE INJTTBED XJST.

FIFTEEN OUT OF T"WEXTY-ONE. BR IDG X OF LONV, STANDING. . COINTV BNfiIN'EERS STATEiIK-VT. With additional particular* to ; -..ind to the extent passenger* suffered inI jury in the char-a-banc disaster nf >attirday, the seriousness »f the accident, which i:i one instance had a, fatal sequel, is made more apparent. It transpires that no fewe than J» of the passenger* sustained :njurie= Surluding Mr. f. J. Wilson, of Tmnuyi lioud New Lynn, father of Miss M. WiL-on, the latter having died m the , hospital <m .Saturday afternoon. Mr. ; Wilson sustained a fracture of. a i>one ia ! the let: A youth named Keorge KpHv, il7 vcars of ase. an employee at the ! New Lynn brickyard, also suffered le? injuries While the injuries of those not taieix to the hospital were nm of a serious ! nature Dr. Carew was occupied the whole of Saturday afternoon viiiting I them. A SENSATIONAL REPORT. The news of the accident was spread i first by a motorist who was travelling , aloucrUie road at the rear of the char-a- ---' bam- with a party bound for ilur.wai. On communicating the startling inforI mation to Mrs. J. Franich, of Gr«at I North Road, he .-aid that he thought; i all the passengers were killed. Mrs. i Franich lost 110 time In communicating ! with the hospital, with a request that j doctors, nurses and ambulances be sent out with all haste, and that the poEce Ibe advised of the occurrence. Mr. Franicli«and three sons in the meantime proceeded to the disaster, and assisted 1 as far as they were able to alleviate the ! plight of the unfortunate New Lynn j party. The ambulances arrived in about 20 minutes and conveyed the more seriously injured to the hospital. The banks of the creek presented A truly pitiful sight at f1.30 when Constable Douglas, of the Avondale Police station, arrived on the scene. The passengers were lying on the banks of the creek and the roadside receiving medical attention. They were all either related to each other or were friends. HAUD ANT) FAST. An attempt to pull the wrecked charabanc from its position at the bed of the creek faiied despite the fact that a siiI yoke team of bullocks -were engaged ia the- effort. The collapsed vehicle was found to be too strongly embedded in the mud bottom of the stream. Owing to the almost perpendicular position of , the embankment the char-a-banc will j probably require, to be dragged up 1 stream before it can cc brought on to ; the baniil INQUEST FORMALLY OPENED. ' Sergeant Rowell. of Mount Eden, was ' successful in arranging for formal evi--1 denee to be taken yesterday in connection 1 J -with ili=s Wilson's death. Mr. J. W. 1 ; Poynton, S.M., conducting the proeeed--1 ings at the morjjue in the afternoon. D , Formal evidence of identification was " "iven and tie proceedings adjourned sine ' die. The body was later removed home ' to Titirang-i Road, New Lynn, from ?! where the funeral will leave at two ' p.m. on Tuesday. iluch sympathy has s been expressed throughout the district ' for the relatives of the unfortunate giri. BRIDGE FIFTY YEARS OLD. '. The engineer to the Waitemata Cotrnty »I Council. Mr. <Jerald A. Jackson, this afternoon stated that the bridge was one ". of the old original iridges of the <Jreat r North Road. It is probably 50 or 00 t years old and spanni-d the bwaieoii r Creek. The driver of the '■hax-a-banc. he j states, had no right to be on the road I with his vehicle. The council had provided a first-class route via Lincoln c Bridge. For the past three weeks he had I j concentrated all his enenries in placing t i the road in perfect order for motor g: traffic. The bridge, he added, was on * j! portion of the road that the council a! had abandoned a? a main road. The g ! bridge was only left standing for the c I convenience of a few local people, P In reply to a query as to whether (i r/here was a notice posted near the ■. bridge warning the public re its oondi- » tion, Mr. -Jaokson replied in the negative. r "There was no notice, he said." "It g was quite obvious tha.t it was not fit for the load they put on it.'" c IX<rUKED FN' HOSPITAL. '■' The injured in hospital are reported to '*, be progressing satisfactorily.