Truck careers over bank

Press, 9 March 1987, Page 8

Truck careers over bank

PA Auckland Stewart McKenzie-Pol-lock crashed to the floorboards when he felt the open-backed dump truck crammed with 14 people career over a rocky bank on Great Barrier Island.

The impulsive action probably saved the life of the Whananaki farmer. Three persons were killed and five others injured when the truck rolled over a 2m bank on

to rocks at Puriri Bay, near, Tryphena, at the week-end. They were Nicholas Sackville Boobyer, aged 34, an engineer, from Whangarei; and Kerry Williams, aged 45, a fitter-welder, of Whangarei.

The name of the third man, aged 22, has been withheld until next of kin have been advised.

Mr McKenzie-Pollock escaped the accident with just a sore back and shoulder and a grazed hand. “I was very lucky,” he said. “Two people to my left on my side of the truck were killed. Another was seriously injured. “I think they sat up to look. I did not want to look. I flattened myself on the deck of the truck. Those who were up high suffered severe head injuries,” he said. The 14 men, many of whom were riding in the back of the truck, were returning to the Tryphena Guest House after playing pool against local residents at a club on the island. The group, all friends and acquaintances, was visiting the island for the week-end. Half of them were employees of the New Zealand Refining Company at Marsden Point.

They had crossed to the island in a chartered power boat on Friday evening.

Mr McKenzie-Pollock said they spent Saturday walking, fishing or playing pool.

The accident happened at night when the group was returning to their lodgings.

Mr McKenzie-Pollock said the truck was driven by Mr John Higgins, their host at the guest house. The truck rolled once down the bank, which was beside a straight stretch of dirt road, and came to rest on rocks at the foot of the bank. One of the passengers, Mr Stephen Davis, aged 31, of Ruakaka, said he dived into the darkness as soon as he felt the truck go over. That was the last thing he remembered. Mr Davis, who broke a wrist in the accident, has only a hazy recollection of doctors and local residents ferrying the injured to the Tryphena medical centre, about Ikm away. One seriously injured man was flown to Middlemore Hospital soon after the accident. Another plane returned a short time later to take a further four people to hospital. Three were in Middlemore Hospital last evening in a comfortable condition. They are Herbert Gerrits, of Ruakaka, who has a crushed arm; Thomas Sanders, of Whangarei, who has a broken jaw; and Mervyn Matthewson, who has a broken pelvis. Constable Rob Norman, of Great Barrier Island, said the cause of the accident was not yet known. No other vehicle was involved.