Family Trapped For 40 Hours

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30390, 14 March 1964, Page 12

Family Trapped For 40 Hours

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, March 13. A young couple, their 7-year-old daughter and 3-month-old baby were brought out of the Waioeka gorge, Opotiki, today after they had spent about 40 hours trapped in their car with nothing to eat and only stream water to drink.

They were trapped between two slips in the gorge at 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday and were reached by a local farmer, Mr J- Curtis, at 2.30 p.m. yesterday. When they found the road blocked on Tuesday night, they turned round to try and get back to Gisborne, but a Sip, which went over the top of the car, blocked their way. The car was not struck.

The trapped couple were Mr and Mrs L. Drummonc and their children, Ameli; and Stephen, Mr Drummond describee their day in the trapped caa as “terrible.” Stayed in Car “It was raining heavily foi a lot of the time and w< could not leave the car. W< had to sleep Tuesday ant Wednesday night in the car “We had no food and thi baby had to be given cole water from the stream. Th only thing wrong -with hin today seems to be an upse stomach.” Mr Curtis led the coup! on a five mile and a hal treacherous walk througl mud—sometimes thigh deep—from the car to his farm. Oi the way, they counted 4 slips. They stayed the night a Mr Curtis’s farmhouse, wher they had their first meai This morning, Mr R. Doltnar of Opotiki, went to the fair by truck and tractor to picl them up. Second Family Mr Drummond said he an his family were lucky to b alive. “We were scared thi a slip would come down o us at any time.” A second young family was rescued today after being isolated in the Waioeka gorge since Wednesday. They are Mr R. W. Mitchell, a Gisborne chiropractor, his wife, and their three-year-old daughter. The family was stranded in the gorge early on Wednesday when their car was caught between two slips. They made their way out on foot.