Rocket Gear Used To Rescue Stranded Boys

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29728, 23 January 1962, Page 9

Rocket Gear Used To Rescue Stranded Boys

(New Zealand Press Association)

NEW PLYMOUTH, Jan. 22. Two boys stranded on a mid-river island were dragged through a swift and violent torrent to safety in a dangerpacked rescue in New Plymouth today. Search and Rescue Organisation men, using rocket gear for the first time in a rescue in Taranaki, worked through the morning before they made the save.

Two men in a boat attached by pulley to a line, fired over the island by rocket, made two trips across the swollen Waiwakaiho river to bring the boys to the shore. The two boys rescued were Alan Eriwata. aged 14, who lives with his grandparents in Fitzroy, and Paul Goodin, aged 12, of Queens road, New Plymouth. The boys had camped on the island overnight, but early this morning with continuous rain the river flooded and they were swiftly encircled by water. The Search and Rescue Organisation's rocket squad, under Mr Basil Marsh, were then rushed down to the scene. Army trucks and men were brought in and police reinforced the rescuers. The rocket cleared the bank on the other side, struck a lawn and finished up in

the basement of a house. But the rope was across. Then Messrs D. R. Hay and W. Cadman climbed into the dinghy and started towards the island.

The boat crept slowly back and forth twice. The rain was streaming down heavier than ever and the current seemed stronger. Safe on the bank, the two boys smiled happily. Asked if they were worried, they replied: “No fear.”