LONG POINT TRAGEDY

Evening Star, Issue 21633, 31 January 1934, Page 6

LONG POINT TRAGEDY

MR CORNELL'S BODY RECOVERED Yesterday afternoon, at half-past 1, after many days of long and arduous searching, the first measure of success which has yet attended the efforts of the dragging party to discover the bodies of the three victims of the Long Point drowning fatality resulted in the recovery of the body of Mr Charles Connell (states the ‘ Southland Times ’). , , The body was lying m the water in Groper’s Gut, almost directly below the rock from which the men were swept away. Mr W. M'Chesney, of Invercargill, in company with a lad named George Tlionjsoii, the sou of a resident ol the coast nearby, was carrying out dragging operations on the precipitous cliff face when the body was encountered, and they called tor assistance from the other members of the party—Messrs Ralph Withington, N. Tyrell, and John Stirling, iun. Mr Stirling, a resident of Waimahaka, is a brother-in-law of Mr H. G. Sproat, one of the victims. Yesterday was the first calm day which the party had encountered, prior to this the conditions being all against the searchers, as heavy seas have been running practically ever since the date of the accident, which occurred on Saturday, January 20. Mr M'Chesney and Mr Withington, together with residents of the district, have been searching ever since last Sunday week. Efforts were continued until dark last evening in an endeavour to find the bodies of Mr G. G. Menzies and Mr H. G Sproat, the other victims. Better .hopes are now entertained, as the seas were still calm last night. The funeral of Mr Connell, who was a resident of Owaka, took place there to-day. . .