STRUCK BY BOULDER

Evening Star, Issue 22880, 11 February 1938, Page 8

STRUCK BY BOULDER

HOMER SADDLE FATALITY INQUEST PROCEEDINGS OPENED COMPANION'S LUCKY ESCAPE The mountaineering tragedy above the Homer Tunnel in the Hollyford Valley on Wednesday, involving the death of Mr John Hunter Mao Lean (22), of Dunedin, was caused through a huge boulder striking the deceased, and not as the result of a fall down the mountainside, according to information given to the ‘ Star ’ by one of the deceased’s companions who reached Gore this morning from the Hollyford region. The deceased was a member of a party fully equipped for mountaineering, the others being Mr George Chance, jun., of Dunedin, and, Guide Donald Cameron, of Hollyford. They were returning from Milford to the Homer Tunnel by way of the Grave Talbot Pass, and were within a quarter of an hour’s walk of the Public Works camp when they decided to rest on a ledge before making the final stage of the journey. The three men were roped together, Mac Lean sitting between the other two. Without warning the boulder was dislodged 6ft above where they were sitting, and in its fall it struck the deceased, death being instantaneous. Chance had a luckjr escape, the boulder just missing him. ” A party of four from the camp assisted in bringing the body in, and it was later taken to Lumsden and then on to Dunedin, where the funeral was held this morning. The inquest was opened this morning at the Homer Camp. Evidence of identification was given and the inquest adjourned sine die.