ACCIDENTS AND TRAGEDIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 December 1940, Page 2

ACCIDENTS AND TRAGEDIES

AIRMAN DROWNED. [per press association.] PALMERSTON N., December 29. Caught in an undertow while swim - ming at Tangimoa'na on Saturday afternoon, Flying Officer J. R. M. Stewart, flying instructor at the Ohakea Air Force Station, was drowned.' Efforts by two fellow officers to rescue him were unavailing. Flying Officer Stewart was aged 24, single, and a son of Mr. R. M. Stewart, Eltham. CAR CRASH INTO POLE CHRISTCHURCH, December 29. A car travelling from Christchurch to Timaru to-day left the main road at the Winchester railway crossing and crashed into a post. The driver, Cyril George Taylor, of Christchurch, was uninjured, but three of the four passengers were taken to the Timaru Public Hospital. They were: Mervyn Robinson, who suffered a dislocated hip; Mavis Robinson, scalp wounds, and Samuel Robinson, severe scalp wounds. The injured people, reside in Christchurch.

FARMER’S DEATH.

AUCKLAND, December 30.

William John Allen, a farmer of Little River, aged 68 years, was found dead at the side of the Wakanui road at Elgin on Saturday afternoon. The body was found by Lanrice Jean Murray, a resident of the district, who saw Allen fall down as he was leading a heifer along the road, from his son’s house nearby.

A verdict that death was caused by heart failure was returned at an inquest at the Ashburton Public Hospital yesterday.

FATHER’S SUICIDE

AUCKLAND, December 24.

An inquest into the death on Saturday evening of Thomas William Roberts, aged 52, married, of Eden Terrace, was held by the Coroner, Mr F. K. Hunt. A verdict of death by poisoning, self-administered, was returned. Roberts was the father of nine children.

DIVER’S DEATH.

WHANGAREI, December 30

Diving into a swimming pool at the Central Park on Saturday evening, Albert Lurman, 27, single, whose parents reside at Otorohanga, failed to come to the surface. Seven minutes later, the body was recovered. Life was extinct. There was no mark to show he had struck the bottom.

A companion said that deceased was seen to swerve when diving, in order to miss a child. He was to have gone to camp soon.

KILLED BY SHARK.

SYDNEY, December 29.

Attacked by a shark in the shallow, cloudy water of Stockton Beach, near Newcastle, to-day, Clarence Hammond, aged 23, died as he was being taken from the water by two surfers who dashed unhesitatingly to his aid.

At the time the shark attacked Hammond he was standing waist deep about 50 yards from the shore.