Car Upside Down Above 100ft Drop

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31235, 6 December 1966, Page 1

Car Upside Down Above 100ft Drop

A Westport motorist returning' home along the Buller Gorge road from Lyell on Monday evening noticed a car upside down and resting against a tree —below the tree, a cliff dropped more than 100 ft into the Buller river.

The car was empty. Its parking lights were on. It was extensively damaged, and had what appeared to be bloodstains on it

The motorist, after searching unsuccessfully for the driver or any other injured person, continued to Westport and reported the matter to the police. The Westport, Murchison and Reefton police knew nothing about any accident in the gorge and had no reports of any person missing. The Reefton police solved the mystery yesterday. Two cars had passed on a verynarrow part of the road, and the edge had given w-ay under

the outside car driven by a Reefton man. The car dropped off the road, turned over and came to rest against the tree. The driver scrambled up, and soon after was given a lift to Reefton. The driver was shaken, but not badly injured, according to the Reefton police. The stains on the car remain a mystery—but they are not blood. “We often get reports of cars going off the road in the gorge. Frequently, the persons in them just leave the cars there until they can get breakdown vehicles. In fact, the road is strewn with old cars that have come to grief and have just been left there,” a Reefton constable said.