THREE PERSONS DROWNED

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27094, 18 July 1953, Page 6

THREE PERSONS DROWNED

Car Plunges Into

Stream

MAN AND CHILD RESCUED (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, July 17. A schoolgirl, her mother, and her grandmother were drowned when the car in which they were travelling plunged into the Mangatawhiri creek, seven miles from Pokeno, at 7.30 p.m. today. The victims were:— Pamela Taylor Cunningham, aged 10; Mrs Daphne Margaret Cunningham, aged 38, the wife of Mr Jack Cunningham, a mine manager, of Kopuku, near Pokeno; and Mrs Hannah Harris, Mrs Cunningham’s mother.

Mr Cunningham and his daughter, Julie, aged five years, were rescued. They are both suffering from shock. Valiant efforts to revive the three victims were made by two • members of the Piha Surf Life-Saving Club and a man from a nearby sawmill, who all arrived soon after the accident. St. John Ambulance men from Pukekohe also helped. They worked for more than an hour and a half, and were aided by oxygen equipment. Before the accident, the family’s car had been travelling toward Pokeno. It stopped at the entrance to the Mangatawhiri bridge, which is being repaired, to let a truck going in the opposite direction pass. A collision involving another truck occurred, and the car was thrown into the stream. The stream is normally very shallow, but now it is swollen by the rains, and the car fell into about 10 feet of water.

Rescuers were guided by the cars headlights shining up from the bed of the stream.

Although desperate efforts were made to free the trapped family, it was nearly 20 minutes before they were brought to the surface. Julie Cunningham was the last to be rescued, but she had apparently been caught in an air bubble inside the car, and, except for shock, was unharmed.

WATERSIDE WORKER PINNED BY SLING

(From Our Own Reporter) GREYMOUTH, July 17.

A Greymouth waterfront worker suffered a strained back and shock when he was pinned against the side of a truck by a sling of hardwood timber late yesterday afternoon. He is Andrew Gordon, aged about 48, of Marsden rbad, Greymouth.

Mr Gordon was a member of a gang discharging hardwood from the small coastal freighter Melva, and was working in a truck with a mate, Peter Hansen. A sling of 10ft lengths struck Mr Gordon in the chest, and he was crushed against the side of the waggon. He was immediately released by his workmates, and after an examination by Dr. W. A. Bird was taken to the Greymouth Public Hospital by ambulance. The hospital later reported Mr Gordon’s condition's satisfactory. BOY CYCLIST INJURED David Hinman, aged 9, of 515 Manchester street, suffered head injuries when the bicycle he was riding was involved in a collision with a car at the corner of Winton and Cranford streets, about 9 a.m. yesterday. He was admitted to the Christchurch Public Hospital. His condition last evening was reported to be satisfactory.