TERRIBLE DEATH

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20836, 15 July 1942, Page 6

TERRIBLE DEATH

DROWNED IN LIGHT CAR FLOOD TRAGEDY “The victim perished under harrowing circumstances,” states a Pahiatua correspondent in recording the drowning of the Rev. G. E. Williams, an Anglican clergyman, during this week’s flood in the Wairarapa district. Mr. Williams was driving a light car from Eketahuna to Pahiatua, and at Hamua his car was washed off the road by flood waters. Assistance was sought from Pahiatua, and Constables A. G. Hogg and E. Barry went to the scene. They found the driver still seated in the car, which had been washed up against a fence on the roadside. Just as they reached the scene the fence burst under the pressure of the water, and the car was washed away for half a chain. A ladder on the end of a rope was floated to the driver, who opened the car door. Just as he was getting out, the car shifted suddenly, and he closed tlje door again. The car was then washed further away,leaving only 3in. of the top of the window above water. Tlie driver was seen to be struggling frantically to keep his head above water level, but he appeared to be caught by something inside the car, which was then washed into deeper water, whe#e only the top was visible. Rescue efforts were unavailing, but an attempt was being made toward midnight, when the Water was subsiding, to recover the body.