THE OMAKA TRAGEDY

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 50, 28 February 1921, Page 7

THE OMAKA TRAGEDY

AN UNIDENTIFIED BODY.

An inquest was opened by the Coroner, Mr. F. K. Hunt, this morning relative to the finding of the skeleton of a young man half-buried in the sand at Camp Bay, near Pencarrow Head, on Friday evening.

Dr. Henry who had examined the remains, said that the only "point by which they might be identified was'that the right central incisor tooth of the upper jaw had been broken off, apparently some time before death. The upper extremities, lower jaw, and right leg were missing, but the remains appeared to be those of a young man, 20 to 25 years of ago, about sft 6in in height. In his opinion the body must have been in the water for at least a month.

Constable Thompson, of Eastbourne, gave evidence as to the recovery of the remains,' and said that there had been no known drowning, fatalities on the eastern side of the harbour recently, except those of the Omaka tragedy, which occurred about two miles distant from Camp Day.

Senior-Sergeant M'Namara, who appeared for the police, said that two young men, Harold Stapleton and Cyril William Thomson, had been lost in the disaster, and their bodies had mot yet been discovered. It • was apparently proved beyond doubt that the remains were not these of , Stapleton, for a. marked peculiarity of his, teeth was absent from those of the remains. He asked therefore that the inquiry should be adjourned till to-morrow morning in order that Mrs. Thomson, who was on her way to. Wellington from New Plymouth, might view the remains.