BOY ONLY SURVIVOR

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30533, 31 August 1964, Page 1

BOY ONLY SURVIVOR

f2V Z Press Association) AUCKLAND, August 30. Three persons died when a car plunged into Puhoi creek, 40 miles north of Auckland, shortly before midnight on Friday night. An 11-year-old boy was the only survivor of the tragedy. The boy, Donald Davies, of Kohimara, lost his married sister, his 9-year-old brother, and his brother-in-law in the accident Those drowned were:— Gerald McLeod Madsen, aged 30. a chemist, of Moerewa, near Kawakawa, Northland. Mrs Maxine Elspeth Madsen, aged 23. George Robert Davies, aged 9.

Naval frogmen at first light on Saturday found the body of Mrs Madsen trapped in the car, which was lying upside down, badly damaged, on the bed of the creek. Later they found the bodies of the boy and Mr Madsen further downstream. As the police put together Donald Davies’ shocked recollections of the tragedy, they concluded that Mr Madsen went back to the trapped car and drowned while trying to free his wife and the younger boy. Mr Madsen had helped the eider boy to the bank of the creek after the accident. The water was 12ft deep as the tide was full at the time. Donald Davies told the police that his brother-in-law helped him to the bank and then sent him to a farmhouse 300 yards away for help. The farmer, Mr W. O. Scholium, said he was woken about midnight by Donald hammering on his door and crying: “Mummy, mummy, mummy.” Mr Scholium said: “When I opened the door the poor little fellow collapsed inside. He was wet through and terribly cold. “He told me he’d just come [out of the river. I asked him how he got there and he said:

“ ‘The car went into the river. There’s still three in it.’ “He said his brother-in-law had helped him out on to the bank and then went back to help the others.” The boy was kept at. the Scholium farm until later in the morning when he had recovered sufficiently to travel back to Auckland with his father, Mr H. M. Davies. Mr Scholium got a punt which was moored in the river and a pole and tried to find the car. It could not be seen by Mr Scholium because of the full tide. Hit By Car A man died in the Palmerston North Hospital about 10.30 p.m. on Friday after being knocked down by a car opposite his home about 6 o’clock. He was: John Rutherford, aged 82, of 21 Beach road, Foxton. Still Serious A young man, who was seriously injured when struck by a bus in Newmarket, Auckland, on Thursday night and whose name was not known, was identified on Saturday as Sam Lawrence, of Otara road, Papakura. He is still seriously ill in Auckland hospital.