TWO BOYS DROWNED

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30213, 19 August 1963, Page 12

TWO BOYS DROWNED

Ran Away From School (N.Z. Press Association) OAMARU. August 18 Two boys, wards of the State, lost their lives on Friday when they were sweat down the Waitaki river, near Duntroon, 28 miles inland from Oamaru. while attempting to cross a stream. They were Gary Francis Tait, aged 14. whose next-of-kin live in Christchurch. Albert Owen Williams, aged 13, from Auckland With two other boys they had absconded from the Otekaieke special school for boys, near Duntroon. and had made their way to the Waitaki river, where they crossed on to an island. When the river rose in its daily fluctuation as the result of the operation of the Waitaki hydro-electric station, all four boys attempted to make their way back to the main bank. Two of the four reached the bank in safety but the two who were drowned attempted to cross tower down and were swept off their feet by the strong current. A search was mounted by Constable J H. Burrell assisted by staff a<t the Otekaieke School, late on Friday evening, but the bodies were not recovered until 8 am on Saturday, about a mile downstream from where the boys had disappeared. The bodies were found on a shingle island and were brought downstream in a jet boat owned by the Ministry of Works and operated by Mr J Barker