TRAGEDY FEARED

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 42, 13 November 1936, Page 10

TRAGEDY FEARED

Climber’s Fall Down

Rocky Slope

LEFT UNCONSCIOUS

Companion Seeks Help and Leads Party B«ck

BITTERLY COLD NIGHT

By Telegraph—Press Association.

Invercargill, November 12

A serious accident which may have involved loss of life occurred yesterday afternoon on the track over the Dore Pass, which runs from Glade House at tlic head of Lake To Anau

to Cascade Creek on the Eglington Valley Road. Hugh Crawford, aged 21, son of Dr. A. F. Ritchie Crawford, Invercargill, slipped and fell when returning from Glade House to Cascade Creek with his companion, John de Lambert, a young mau employed iu the Public Works Department. When de Lambert worked his way down a steep rocky face to reach his companion he found him unconscious. In addition to head injuries he had a broken arm. De Lambert did all he could to make Crawford comfortable, warm and secure, and remained with him for two hours. It was snowing heavily and bitterly cold. Realising that he could do no mure without assistance, de Lambert set out for Glade House, which he reached toward evening, after an arduous trip over a snow-swept track. A. search party was organised at Glade House and, led by de Lambert, who, despite his fatigue, insisted on returning, the men hastened as best they could in unfavourable conditions to reach the spot where Crawford had been left. The search party had not returned this afternoon.

Crawford and de Lambert were on a holiday trip when the accident occurred. About 10 days ago they left their car at Cascade Creek and walked over the Dore Pass to Glade House. They spent a week in the Sounds country, and were returning to Cascade Creek when Crawford missed his foothold and fell. It is feared that exposure during a bitterly cold night may cause the death of Crawford, particularly as he was suffering from severe head injuries and a broken arm.