Bodies ‘flew’

Press, 4 February 1982, Page 4

Bodies ‘flew’

PA Auckland The Auckland Coroner’s Court heard yesterday how an accident on'the Harbour Bridge in December, which killed four people, left bodies strewn across the span. An eye-witness, Mr Charles Weston, of Bayswater, said that when the two vehicles collided “bodies flew around the bridge.” The inquest before the Auckland Coroner, Mr Allan Copeland, was to determine the causes of death for those killed in the accident on December 6 between a van and a car. A police witness said the van was on the southern approaches to the 'bridge, lost control, and hit the car

travelling south down the bridge. Mr Weston said the impact threw open the doors of both vehicles and bodies were strewn across the bridge. He said he counted seven people lying on the bridge. The Coroner found that three of those killed in the accident: Mrs Patricia Anne Hogan, and Mrs Mervyle Nicholls, both of Thames, and Mr Gregory Rooney of Devonport, died as a result of multiple injuries suffered in the accident. The fourth victim, Margrietha Alice Holstein, died of head injuries suffered when she was thrown on to the road, said the Coroner.