ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS

Evening Star, Issue 20780, 30 April 1931, Page 11

ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS

PILOT BREAKS ARM. When landing in a D.H, 50 at the Wigram Aerodrome yesterday Flightlieutenant V. J. Somerset Thomas misjudged the height slightly and the undercarriage of the machine struck a ledge. The machine turned over and the pilot was thrown out suffering a broken arm. The machine was damaged considerably, CHIEF OFFICER INJURED. Through falling from a ladder in one of the holds of the Port Hunter at the Pipitea Wharf, Wellington, H. G. Harris, the chief officer, received severe internal injuries. _ He was taken to hospital, where his condition is regarded as serious. WASHED UP ON BEACH. Late on Tuesday afternoon the body of Edward O’Rourke, a labourer, forty-four years of age, was found on the beach at Tuamotu Island, near Gisborne. The island is connected with the mainland by a strip of land, and is accessible from the shore at low tide. O’Rourke was last seen on the previous evening returning to his home on the island. The deceased, who was a single man and a returned soldier, leaves one sister (Airs Howard), of Tinakori road. Wellington, At the inquest concerning the death of O’Rourke evidence was given that the deceased left the mainland on Monday night to walk a few hundred yards to his camp on Tuamotu Island, which is accessible at low tide. The deceased had no liquor and appeared to be in his usual state of health. The body was found next night on the shore of the island under an overhanging cliff and almost under a large boulder which had fallen from the cliff. Evidence was given by Dr Gunn to the effect that there was no direct evidence of drowning, and as the body was _ much mutilated, probably by sharks, it was hard to estimate the cause of death. The only solution witness could offer was that the left lung was adherent to the chest wall and the deceased had slipped and caught his breath suddenly, tearing the lung from the chest wall. There was no evidence of a weight having fallen on the deceased. A verdict was returned of accidental death while returning to camp, but there was no evidence to indicate the cause.

MISSING MAN’S BODY FOUND. The body of Air William George Pinliey, ti well-known business man, who lin'd been missing since April 11, was found on the seashore near the Seatoun wharf yesterday afternoon by the police and taken to the morgue, where it was later identified.—Wellington Press Association telegram.;