15 MAORIS KILLED, 21 BADLY HURT

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30051, 8 February 1963, Page 10

15 MAORIS KILLED, 21 BADLY HURT

Bus From Waitangi Plunges Over Cliff

INtw Ztalani Press Association) WHANGAREI, February 7. Fifteen Maoris returning freon the Waitangi . Treaty celebrations died when their bus crashed through a fence and plunged 100 feet down a sheer cliff on Brynderwyn hill, 45 miles south of Whangarei, at 130 p.m. today. The other 21 passengers in the bus all were injured—some of them critically. They are in Whangarei Hospital. All were unconscious when they were admitted. The brakes of the bus, owned by Waikato Services, Ltd., are believed to have failed at the top of the hill. The driver held the bus in low gear until it left the road on a comer about 200 yards from the bottom of the hill.

Tonight the police were having great difficulty identifying the dead and injured, but they thought they came from the Tuakau, Onehunga, Auckland and Helensville areas.

The Minister of Maori Affairs (Mr Hanan), Colonel A. Awatere, district Maori welfare officer at Auckland, Messrs T. P. K. Puriri and J. Pou (district welfare officer at Whangarei) helped the police to identify some of the victims.

Mr L. Snelling, who lives about a quarter of a mile from the scene, was first at the wreck. “It was a nightmare; a mass of broken bodies.’’ he said.

Douglas Snelling, aged 19. said that when he and his father heard the crash they rushed down and found all the passengers lying tangled in the wreckage.

“The screams could be heard a mile away.” he said. He immediately began carrying the injured from the shattered wreck. Passing motorists stopped and helped him.

His sister, Miss Una Snelling. rang the police and Dr. J. M. Rennie, of Maungaturoto. and a call was sent to Maungaturoto and Whangarei for ambulances. Buses, many of them also southbound from Waitangi, stopped and soon a large crowd of Maoris, weeping and stunned by the tragedy, were assisting in the rescue work. When the first ambulance left for Whangarei at 2 p.m rescuers were still trying to free men, women and children from the wreckage. The dead, dying, and injured, were carried from the wreck of the bus across a creek in a small gully to a temporary first-aid station

which was set up in a nearby paddock. A Roman Catholic priest who arrived on the scene shortly after the crash, administered the last rites to the dying.

A Road Services bus was used to take six of the injured to the Whangarei Hospital. Two travelled in the luggage compartment, one on the floor, one on a camp stretcher, and two in the aisle between the seats.

All the injured were in Whangarei Hospital by 3.30 p.m., where a special ward was prepared. As soon as advice of the emergency was received, hospital staff began equipping the ward with beds, trolleys and tables, and it was ready to receive the first four patients in an ambulance which arrived at 2.20 p.m. One of the patients, a woman, died in the ambulance. Five retired Whangarei registered nurses started duty tonight helping care for the injured. Some of them were wearing borrowed uniforms. More of them will come on duty in the morning. The morning nursing staff stayed on duty this afternoon and the afternoon staff came on early. The names of eight of the

dead were released late tonight They were:— Mrs Emma Nielson, 33 Piriri street, Helesville. Mrs Beryl Abraham, or Paengenui, of Helensville. Mrs Miri Nathan, of Rewiti, Helensville. Peter Tapene, of 61 Spring street. Onehunga. Eriapa Uruamo Woodhill, of Rewiti, Helensville. Mrs Molly Povey, of Rewiti,

Helensville. Karaka Wiapo, of Helensville. Mrs Colleen Margaret Sheffield, 41 South Head, Helensvile. Mr Wiapo was presented to the Queen yesterday. Those injured are: Lewis Nathan, aged 16, of Waimuku, back injuries; Valrnai Tapene, aged 13, of 61 Spring street, Onehunga, chest injuries, condition serious; Mirs Annie Tapene, of 61 Spring street, Onehunga, head injuries, fractured arm, condition serious; Mrs Lilly Smith, aged 52, of Helensville lacerations to scalp and chest injuries, condition fair; Miss Wikitoria Rota, aged 30, of 00 Shelly Beach road, Ponsonby, Auckland, shoulder injuries, condition satisfac-1 tory; Byron Kidwell, aged 13, of Rewiti, compound fracture of the left leg, condition satisfactory; Pute Kidwell, aged 12, of Rewiti, chest injuries, condition serious; Mrs Rangi Clark, aged 51, chest and spinal injuries, condition serious; Li via Edwards, aged Ij, of Rewiti, abdominal injuries, condition fair; Nukie Broughton, aged 55, of Carwell street, Onehunga, chest injuries, condition serious; Harold Parker, aged 46, lacerations, condition fair; Pinangi Nathan, aged 15, severe lacerations to face, chest injuries, condition satisfactory; TunaSa Kukutai, aged 25, back uries and facial lacerations, condition flair; Annette Houpata, aged 15, of Onehunga, fractured spine, condition serious; Mrs Waru Beckett, aged 40, of Woodward avenue. Mangere, chest injuries and compound fracture of shoulder, condition serious; Sophia Ta<ne. aged 22. chest injuries, condition fair; Mrs B Neilson, back and shoulder injuries. condition fairly serious; Ruby Noda, aged 58, of 10” Vincent street, Auckland, fractured right leg and back injuries, condition fairly serious: Mrs E. Moore, multi oJe fractures of arms and ribs, condition fair; John Parata, aged 31, of 1141 Dominion road east, Mt Roskill, lacerations to the arms, condition satisfactory; Elizabeth Povey, aged 30, of Waimuku, concussion and head injuries, condition fair.