REMARKABLE ESCAPE

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 16, 19 July 1932, Page 8

REMARKABLE ESCAPE

CAE GOES OYEE BANK

FIVE PASSENGERS ABOARD

(By Telegraph.)

(Special to "The Evening Post.")

( ■ AUCKLAND, 18th July.

A remarkable escapo from serious injury was experienced by a party of New Plymouth motorists on Sunday when their car turned over several times down • a steep bank, uprooted a six-inch sapling, and finally camo to rest against a bigger tree upside down and astride a creek. With-the exception of one of the passengers,.who received a deep cut ona hand, none suffered more than shock and a few (bruises. The party comprised Mr. J. H. Ashton, director of Messrs. Newton-King, Limited, who was driving; Mr. 'Elliot King, another director, and Mrs. King; their sou Grabmo, aged 10, and a youth, T,. Honan, aged 15, of Auckland.

The accident occurred in the Mangataki Gorge, about four miles on the New Plymouth' side of Pio Pio. .The travellers were on their way tp Auckland, and just after turning a. cornor they met another car coining from the direction of Pio Pio. Mr. Ashton had to take the clay on the low side of the road to pass, and the downward slope of the road at this point prevented him from regaining the crown. In 'spito of strenuous efforts to hold the car back it went down over the bank. The slope is almost sheer, and covered with .fairly "thick undergrowth, a fortunate fact for the passengers, as it retarded tho sp^ed at which the ■ car rolldd over and over: HELD BY TREE. A 'six-inch sapling almost succeeded in stopping tho descent, but it was_ uprooted - and the car continued its fearsome. career. A bigger tree' was later encountered, and it held the car with its wheels in the air, and lying on its -top across the watercourse. By this time- the passengers were in a heap in the machine, and it took a few moments before Mr. King was able to get clear,,break a window, and then open a door from the outside. It was with some' difficulty that' the others managed to climb out. An examination showed tha.t. Mr. Ashton.was suffering from shock. Mrs. ■King had a deep cut on her right hand and. some bruises. Graeme King was bruised about the body, and the youth Honan had one bruise on the head. Mr. King escaped with only a bruise' or two. . -The scramble -up tho cliffside to the road was not without its perils, especially after the nerve-wracking trial the party had- gone through. Assistance was given by a nearby settler, who brought ropes, and _the travellers reached the top without further mishap. Further assistance of passing motorists was invoked to carry the members of the party to Te Kuiti, where they received medical attention and stayed the. night, coming on to Auckland to-day. i., • The car, a sedan, had an all-steel body and to this the motorists attributo an a large measure, their escape without more serious injury.- So far as a* cursory examination showed the ?™. *t? rcce7ed only superficial damage, it was left whore it came to rest for recovery at a later date. • ■ Tho .motorist who was passed at the corner went on without stopping, presumably unaware of the misfortune bemod him. ,