FOUR DEATHS ON SOUTHLAND ROADS

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32567, 29 March 1971, Page 16

FOUR DEATHS ON SOUTHLAND ROADS

(New Zealand Press Association) , INVERCARGILL, March 28. Four people died in three motor accidents on Southland roads on Saturday. At least 16 other people required hospital treatment for accident injuries, and three were in a serious condition in hospital.

Those who died were Miss Colleen Heather Whipp, aged 19, a nurse aid, from Green Point, three miles north of Bluff. Michael John Hutchinson, aged 19, a wool store worker, Green Point, and Lloyd James Fairbairn, aged 37, a farmer, of Dacre, and

Raymond McNoe, aged 19, a farmhand, of Pukerau. Miss Whipp, who was the driver, and Mr Hutchinson, died after a collision between their car and a utility vehicle driven by Murray John Paterson, aged 31, a mechanic, of 3 Fox Street, Invercargill. The collision occurred about 4.20 p.m. on Saturday.

Mr Paterson was in Southland Hospital tonight in a serious condition as a result of injuries to the head, chest and legs. The other passenger in Miss Whipp’s vehicle, Valerie Joan Hutchinson, aged 11, of Green Point, was in a moderately serious condition with injuries to the head and legs, and suffering from shock. A PASSENGER Mr Fairbairn died after a collision at Dacre, 15 miles from Invercargill on State Highway One, at about 10.30 p.m. on Saturday. He was a passenger in a utility vehicle driven by Francis John O’Mears, aged 36, a farmer of Woodlands. Mr O’Mears was in a moderately serious condition in hospital with injuries to the head and chest. Colin Neil Galt, aged 30, a farmer of Mabel Bush, the sole occupant of the other vehicle was in a satisfactory condition with injuries to the head. CAR OVERTURNED

Mr McNoe died as a result of injuries received after the car in which he was travelling overturned near Pukerau, nine miles from Gore, at 3.44 p.m. today. Mr McNoe was the only passenger in a car driven by Mervyn Lewis Smail, aged 19, a farm hand of Kaiwera. Mr Smail, whose car was extensively damaged, was in a comfortable condition in Gore Hospital tonight.

TWO KILLED Two people were killed and five others seriously injured when two cars collided in Tamaki Drive, Auckland, early this morning. Those killed were

David Vaka, aged 35, of Tonga, who was on holiday in New Zealand and staying with relatives at Mount Roskill, and

Mrs Pamata Johansson, aged 29, married, of Grey Lynn. They were both passengers in one car. Also travelling in the same car were Mr Vise Lapa, of Grey Lynn, and the husband of the dead woman, Robert Johansson.

Mr Lapa is seriously ill in Middlemore Hospital and Mr Johannson is very seriously ill in Auckland Hospital tonight. A woman travelling in the other car, Mrs lona Baker, of St Heliers, is dangerously ill in Auckland Hospital. Her husband, John Baker, who was also in the car, is “very sick,” and their baby son, Mark, was in a fair condition.

John Joseph Donnelly, of Blackport, Victoria, a passenger in the car, was treated at Auckland Hospital and later discharged. Police

said the accident happened about 12.25 a.m. A man was killed in Dunedin on Saturday night when his car struck a pole in Ravensboume Road. He was Romana Ronnie Rolleston, aged 23, a panelbeater, of Dunedin. HIT BY TRUCK A Rotorua man was killed instantly when he was struck by a laden articulated truck and trailer on the old Taupo Road, Rotorua, yesterday afternoon. He was Alexander Gordon Dunningham, aged 46, married, a cleric of Rotorua. Rotorua police said it appeared Mr Dunningham was standing on the footpath on Old Taupo Road when he fell into the path of the oncoming truck, driven by Bernard George Desmond, a driver, of Rotorua.