Aunt left boys for climb

Press, 30 January 1984, Page 1

Aunt left boys for climb

PA New Plymouth The “stupidity” of a woman who is alleged to have left two nephews, aged seven and eight, alone about 2000 metres up Mount Egmont yesterday while she climbed to the summit was denounced last evening by the Taranaki search and rescue co-ordinator, Sergeant V. R. Story. Sergeant Story said that the boys could easily have died from exposure or have wandered and become lost. One of his search advisers had been climbing down the mountain yesterday behind a party of four, Sergeant Story said. The party told the adviser that they had

come across the two boys about 2000 m. They said they had given warm clothing and drinks to the boys who were cold and shivering. They had said their aunt had left them to climb to the summit. Sergeant Story said it had been a stupid thing to do. “It was misty and it got cold. They could have died very quickly from exposure or they could have wandered off. The woman herself could have become lost and might not have been able to return to them,” he said. “It has been a beautiful day in New Plymouth but it can be a very different matter up there,” he said.