SEARCH FOR YOUNG MENTAL ESCAPEE: FEARS FOR SAFETY

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 August 1948, Page 4

SEARCH FOR YOUNG MENTAL ESCAPEE: FEARS FOR SAFETY

Fearing that he may have been fatally injured by falling down one of the many steep mining shafts in the bush-clad area surrounding the Hokitika menial hospital, police parties arc engaged in a search for a.young iY?an who escaped from the Institution 16 days ago. There has been no trace of the man, Who served overseas with the R.N.Z.A.F. during the war, since his disappearance, and as he was not fully clad, fears are felt for his safety. A search party comprising members of the police force, hospital attendants and members of the Hokitika Mountaineering Club, began the search this week, and they are covering the bush-covered and swampy area, ranging from the site of the new Hokitika aerodrome, over the spurs to the east and as far north as the Ho Ho creek. A watch is also being kept on the sea beaches in the vicinity. So far the search has been without success. The man for whom the search is being conducted is the one who escaped a week before his disappearance and was recaptured in a child’s bedroom after leaping through a closed window in a house on the sou th -ea st side of Hokitika.