Search fails to find teenagers

Press, 2 April 1985, Page 10

Search fails to find teenagers

NZPA-Reuter London A Government investigator was yesterday trying to discover why a packed cross-Channel hovercraft hit a breakwater in Dover Harbour, killing four passengers. Rescuers failed to find the bodies of two teenagers, who were among 16 people thrown into the sea. They are presumed dead.

A South American woman died in the water and an English teacher working in Germany, John Roberts, died in hospital. His daughter, Megan Roberts, aged 13, is one of the two missing teenagers. Mr Roberts’ wife, Susan, is seriously ill in hospital at Canterbury with a fractured pelvis, his son Thomas, aged 10, was treated for exposure. The other teenager is Christophe Chauvaux, aged 15, who was in a party of French schoolchildren going on a visit to Stockport, Greater Manchester. The police were not certain that he was on the hovercraft, but their in-

quiries had found no trace of him elsewhere. A Transport Department investigator was examining the damaged Hoverspeed craft, which was on its way from Calais to Dover with 370 passengers and 18 crew. He was also interviewing the crew. It seems that strong gusting winds blew the hovercraft into a breakwater as it entered Dover harbour on Saturday afternoon. Conditions in the channel at the time were poor, with high waves hampering the craft as it made its apE roach. The impact with the reakwater ripped a gaping hope in the side of the hovercraft, The Princess Margaret. As cross-Channel hovercraft services resumed from Dover three lifeboats and an R.A.F. helicopter called off their search for the two missing teenagers. Earlier, coastguards spent three hours walking the Bkm stretch of foreshore between Dover and Kingsdown to check whether the bodies had been washed up.