SEARCH MADE FOR BODY

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29165, 28 March 1960, Page 21

SEARCH MADE FOR BODY

JL V/Al XJV/JLZ JL Man Drowned In South Westland A watch is being kept on the South Westland coastline for the body of Mr Rodger Charles Watson, aged 24, of 36 Beauchamp street, Karori, Wellington. Mr Watson was drowned after an Auster aircraft had crashed into the sea at Cascade Point, South Westland, on the morning of February 27.

Mr Watson, a Marine Department officer, was the son of Mr C. R. Watson, of Oxford. The pilot and another passenger escaped serious injury and it is believed that Mr Watson was drowned when he attempted to swim ashore from the aircraft which came down in shallow water about 80 yards off the coast. Fishing and coastal vessels in the area have beer, instructed to keep a lookout for the body, and pilots flying between north and. south Westland are also keeping a watch. A pilot reported that he saw an object which resembled a body near the mouth of the Paringa river late last week. The constable from Whataroa made a thorough search in a boat between the mouth of the Paringa river and Bruce Bay but he found no trace of the body. “We have not given up hope of finding the body, and searches are being made at every opportunity,” said Chief Inspector H. O. L. Hansen, who is in charge of the Greymouth police district, last evening.