Coroner presumes lost man drowned

Press, 9 November 1978, Page 6

Coroner presumes lost man drowned

A man who went fishing w : th a friend in a cabin ! cruiser on January 13 has still not been found and has" been nresumed drowned according to a verdict of the I D'.stric' Uoroner (Mr N. G. Hattaway) in Christchurch ; yes-erdav On January 13 James Robe- Mcßreartv. aged 30, had set out in a 19ft cabin cruise with Eric Duncan Lamb.' The boat had had on board two liie iackets and smoke flares, but no radio, torch, p o- mirror, said Constable E.p E Donnelly in the Coroner’s ] Co'rtt. T he men had been fishing three days a week for the previou three months in the V'aimakariri and Ashley: Rivers. ' “en thev were reported(' overdue from their trip an a'»t was issued At the time there were 38-knot northw '■ 'erly ”dnds The next day a full-scale chore search” v.a« conducted. '’n ’awiar- >5 Mr Lamb’s body was found lying faceup -ne "-ate- He was wearing his life-jacket. " irthe' searches had not found Mr Mcßrearty, Con-str'-'e Dmjnel’v said. On April 22 a memorial ser rice was held for him. The Coroner ruled that 1

Mcßrearty’s death was a re-lt suit of a probable drowning. < SHIP FIRE ' Samiso’oa Palu aged 19. a 1 Tongan, died at sea during a fire on the M.V. Kemphaani in June i 1 The Coroner held that Mr r Palu had died from severe i burns < Constable G. C. Stace said that he had gone aboard -the I shin in the 'ate afternoon of i June 11, after the burning ship had been towed toil Wreck Ray in Lyttelton Har- 1 bour. He said that at that!' I stage the fire had died down ! and water was still being poured on to it. i The remains of a body!' with severe burns had been J f ound in what appeared to') have been a cabin in the ac- < commodation quarters. ■ < Mr Palu had been T then (shin’s greaser. . p Constable R. P;. North said that after an ’ interview with crew mem- 1 bers he had considered that?! : ‘he fire had been caused by! 1 an e’ectrica! fault. < Vili Vaeafisi, aged 28. who J was the shin’s electrician. ! died on June 15. from severe bums, the Coroner found ' He had suffered bad burns ' to face, limbs and the back 1 and front of the trunk. For four days he had < made satisfactory progress. ; but he haU died after a heart i attack while doctors were I

examining him when he had i complained of abdominall pain and shortness of) breath. DROWNING Kurt William Morton, aged 14 months, died from as-) nhvxia as a result of drown-1 ing a swimming pool, the Coroner found. He had been away from, his mother for only a few' minutes. When she found him lying face down. Mrs Morton'had I tried to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, she told the court. The child had been seen earlier plaving with a stick • which was found in the pool. I It could possibly have fallen in the water and her child might have gone in after it Mrs Morton said. HEAD INJURIES A youth, aged 16, who took a motor-vehicle from Ransiora and who was found to have an excessive 'eve! of alcohol in his blood, died from head injuries in a motor accident at Tuahiwi, the Coroner found. The youth, Brent Leo McCloy, died on September 17 after the accident on September 1. The driver was the sole occupant of the car which after rounding a bend in Tuahiwi Road rolled over a gorse fence into a ditch. i