THROWN INTO SURF

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 82, 31 December 1926, Page 8

THROWN INTO SURF

LIVES OF SIX YOUTHS ENDANGERED ONE DROWNED DIFFICULT RESCUE WORK Dominion Special. Christchurch, December 30. Six vouths were overturned from a’ boat into the surf at Sumner to-day. One, Ronald Eden, aged 16, of 99 Grafton Street, Linwood, was drowned. It took doctors two hours to resuscitate two of the others, all of whom were in a very exhausted State. The names of the youths, who are all under the age of 20, in addition to Eden, are: Robert Smith, Linwood; Wilfred Foster, Fendalton; Jack Bedulph, Linwood; Con. Barson, Linwood; Frederick Arnold, Linwood. The boat, named Buccaneer, had been laid up in the baths at the Scarborough end of the beach for some time, and the boys ventured out tins morning at about 10 o’clock, it is said, against the advice of some fishermen who knew the danger of the heavy sea which was running. Under sail the boat headed along parallel with the beach, and was worked slightly inshore. Just’opposite the Surf Club’s pavilion it was caught by a heavy breaker, and capsized. The boys clung to the boat, and were carried towards the beach by the waves. As soon as the accident was seen from the shore the alarm was sounded, and a scratch surf team (Leslie Heslop, William Priest, and Frederick Newman) rushed to the rescue. Both the lifeboats from Sumner and Scarborough also put out, but had a stern struggle in the heavy sea, and by the time they were able to reach the scene of the accident the five survivors had been brought ashore. Barson and Bedulph were unconscious, and Drs. Bates and Slater worked over them for nearly two hours before they were resuscitated with the aid of hot-water bags, blankets, and stimulants supplied freely by residents, who also provided changes of clothing. Arnold was the first to-recover. He suffered a gash in one of his hands He spoke in high praise of the work of Heslop and Priest, who carried out the rescue work. Newman was on the line. The Sumner lifeboat ’ crew had a dangerous passage across the bar. The breakers frequently towered above the little craft, and twice the steering oar was washed from the rowlock. The body of Eden was found washed up at the Scarborough end of the beach this evening. An inquest was opened and adjourned. y