Injured man lay in ditch for days

Press, 22 January 1979, Page 1

Injured man lay in ditch for days

An injured Pleasant Point man lay in a ditch, unconscious, for nearly two days before he was discovered by a search party and admitted to Timaru Hospital. David Michael Bailey, aged 24, an agricultural contractor, of Runa Terrace, Pleasant Point, apparently was rounding a bend in the road from Cave on his motor-cycle when he lost control and crashed into the ditch about 4 p.m. on Thursday. The area was searched on Saturday morning and another search was planned by the police for the afternoon but in the meantime an informal search party discovered Mr Bailey in a ditch near Raincliffs.

Mr Bailey was taken to hospital suffering from head injuries; he was in a

satisfactory condition last evening.

He was reported missing on Saturday morning by his wife. The police said that Mrs Bailey had not been concerned about her husband’s safety because his job often entailed his working for long hours on farms in the district. She called the police when a workmate arrived at their home on Saturday morning to find out why Mr Bailey had not turned up for work. Mr Bailey managed to make his way about 50 metres across a road and over a fence. He was found lying near a small creek.

There had been traffic on the road, but Mr Bailey was lying out of sight over a small embankment.

The search began with a check by Constable A.

W. J. Barker and several helpers of the CavePleasant Point road on Saturday morning.

This was the route it was thought Mr Bailey would have taken. However, it appeared he had detoured to the district lime works to order some shingle on his way home, which was why he was finally found on the Raincliff-Totara Valley road, a long wav from where he was expected to be.

Constable Barker praised the way district residents had rallied to help in the search. About 20 were out searching, and another 40, as well as a police team, were about to start when the news came that Mr Bailey had been found. “We had never given up hope that he was alive,” Constable Barker paid.