HAD GIVEN UP HOPE ON MOUNT

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30531, 28 August 1964, Page 1

HAD GIVEN UP HOPE ON MOUNT

(N Z. Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, August 27. The Nga Tawa (Marton) schoolteacher, Mrs Antoinette Polach, aged 64. had given up hope when she was rescued in the bed of the Kaupokonui river on south Mount Egmont today.

She was found lying across a log on a dried part of the river bed by searchers at 12.30 p.m. The rescue marked the end of one of the most intensive searches on the mountain for many years. When the 15hour search for the missing woman was called off nearly 70 Search and Rescue Organisation members were on the mountain. Carried by stretcher through the twisting, swiftflowing river. Mrs Polach was able to walk with assistance when she was brought from the bush at 7 20 p.m., but she was immediately taken to Hawera Hospital and admitted for observation. A dramatic hour’s run by a New Plymouth deerstalker. D Worthington, brought out th<* news that she was still alive.

Mrs Polach was found suffering badly from exposure.

Mr Worthington said: "Her feet and hands were swollen badly. She kept on saying ‘I want to get to sleep’. “I’ll never forget the look on her face when she saw us”

Stretcher parties took nearly two hours to reach the scene after wading through the river and battling their way over huge boulders and fallen trees.

When they arrived Mrs Polach was in good spirits.

The journey back to the farmhouse owned by Mr W. Gut, of Manaia road, took three hours. Lying in a makeshift stretcher in the bed of the river where she was found, Mrs Polach said: “Thank God it is over. Another night and 1 could not have survived.” Mrs Polach said she became lost after reaching Hastie’s hill (3265 feet) bn Wednesday morning. “1 broke my glasses when 1 reached the top of the hill. Without them 1 could not see very well and I lost my way,” she said. “The mist was coming down thick and 1 tried to get back to Dawson Falls. I knew if 1 could even find the falls themselves 1 would be all right. “Then the night came and I walked . , . and walked. I knew 1 must keep warm. “I was getting colder and colder, so 1 kept walking. Then 1 was tired and I fell over a tree trunk and hurt my back.

“1 could hear the river, so I headed for it But on the way 1 slipped and fell through thick bush.

“Even in the river, I could not go very fast and the water was swift and, in some places, deep. The rocks were hurting my hands and feet . . . but I knew I must not stop. “Then 1 was getting tired and 1 found a flax bush and lay down in it for a while. It was very warm.

“When morning came 1 could hardly move at all, and I began to shiver with cold. I only had my plastic raincoat and 1 was very wet. “Then, thank God, just as I felt I could go no longer, I opened my eyes to see three men standing by me," she said.