Bridge repair plan; bus recovered

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33254, 18 June 1973, Page 1

Bridge repair plan; bus recovered

(New Zealand Press Association.

WELLI

The wrecked Rangitikei River bridj Friday sending a bus into the waters bei repaired before the end of the year.

The Minister of Works and Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Watt) who visited the 700 yard long concrete bridge near Bulls on Saturday said the river, one of the longest in the North Island, would be diverted to enable repairs to be made.

A Bailey bridge will be erected over the yawning gap on State Highway 1 to restore communications for light local traffic in the BullsOhakea area.

After inspecting the bridge and talking to Ministry of Works engineers at the site, Mr Watt said the cause of the collapse was still not known.

But he speculated that it could have been river scouring, which eroded the piles or the effects of recent earthquakes in the area. Mr Watt said that diverting the river would enable engineers to work dry when

they drive additional piles for the Bailey bridge and repair the collapsed structure.

Mr Watt said' the bridge, built in 1949, had been inspected regularly and was last examined about 12 months ago. He said inspecting engineers did not find

anything to cause concern. The District Commissioner of Works at Wanganui (Mr E. S. Charrott) said on Saturday that one of the remaining spans of the bridge

would have to be demolished before the Bailey bridge could be erected. Other parts of the bridge appeared sound. Recovery watched

Several hundred Sunday sightseers today watched the recovery of the bus, owned

iGTON, June 17. £e, which collapsed on low, is unlikely to be

by Weld Motors, Ltd, which took from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. A truck and bulldozer were used to winch the battered bus from a 10ft deep channel in the river.

A Wanganui skin-diver, Mr Neil McDowell, attached a cable to the almost submerged vehicle. The first cable broke under the strain but the second held.

The bus is a write-off. The front end was smashed after it struck the bridge’s concrete pier in its plunge to the riverbed. The rest of the body and the engine are believed to be beyond repair. Rescue described Over the week-end the bus driver, Mr Mervyn Farrington, and Mr Richard Reeves, who rescued him from the Rangitikei River told their stories of the dramatic bridge collapse. “A great slab of concrete reared up in front of the bus and then I was thrown into darkness,” said the 35-year-old driver. “I don’t know how I managed it. If I’d thought about it at the time, I’d never have gone in,” said Mr Reeves, who jumped into the river, fought the current, and dragged the crippled driver out of his fast-sinking bus and pulled him to safety. “I know I’m a very lucky man,” said Mr Farrington, who has seven children, as he lay in the intensive care unit at Palmerston North Hospital. But he said he planned to go back to driving buses as soon as he is fit. “I’ll remember'’ And 24-year-old Mr Reeves, of Lower Hutt, relaxed on a week-end off in Wanganui, shrugged off his hero’s feat, but admitted: “Hl remember it every time I drive over a bridge from now on.” Mr Reeves said he seemed to be in the water for “quite a while.”

Mr Reeves gave his name and address to a traffic officer, changed his clothes and drove on to Wanganui after the incident. Two other men jumped into the icy, swirling waters of the river to save Mr Farrington. One was a 17-year-old survey clerk, Mr John Whitehead, of Lake Alice, and the other, an unidentified truck driver. Mr Whitehead said that he and the truck driver dived in and helped Mr Reeves get Mr Farrington off a pile of debris and up a 3ft bank on to dry land.