WOMAN IN DITCH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 103, 4 May 1931, Page 5

WOMAN IN DITCH.

GROANS HEARD BY CYCLIST. LYING IN WATER ALL NIGHT SEVERE EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Sunday. Unable to etir from water into which she had fallen, Mrs. E. J. England, of Newlands, aged 70, spent all last night in an open ditch. She was not found until 14 hours after her fall, and was taken to the hospital, where her condition late this afternoon was reported to be satisfactory. Setting out to visit friends shortly before eight o'clock last evening, Mrs. England started to cross a paddock, and while on the way she fell into a ditch partially filled with water, which covered her body. She was unable to raise herself from it and was forced to wait until someone discovered her plight. She lives alone in a small house on the main road at Newlands, and her absence was not missed, her friends believing she had decided to stay at home on account of the coldness of the night,

It was not until ten o'clock this mornthat a cyclist passing by heard groans and found Mrs. England. After her removal from the water —no easy task:— the free ambulance was called and conveyed her to hospital. She was suffering severely from exposure.