ESCAPE OF BIG SKI PARTY IN 20ft. FALL OF VAN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23349, 4 September 1950, Page 6

ESCAPE OF BIG SKI PARTY IN 20ft. FALL OF VAN

WANGANUI. Sept. 4. Forty-six Wellington skiers travelling in an articulated furniture van were shaken but uninjured when the six-ton vehicle swerved off the main north road eight miles from Wanganui and plunged 20ft. down a steep hillside at 5 p.m. yesterday. The accident occurred when the trailing section of the vehicle skidded in a patch of oil left by a motorcycle which had crashed on the slippery roadway. The truck was driven by Mr. S. F. Croft. Lower Hutt. The rider of the motor-cycle. James Eyres, of Aramoho, was admitted to hospital with concussion. Mr. Croft was returning to Wellington from Mt. Egmont with the skiers, mostly members of the Aorangi Ski Club. The truck had reached the summit on the north side of Goat Valley near Kai Iwi, and was travelling in low gear. It rounded a sharp curve and when the driver saw the motorcyclist on the roadway he applied the brakes and the trailer skidded across the bitumen. The vehicle left (he road, nosed through some undergrowth and bucked down the hillside. None of the passengers appeared greatly alarmed, for the vehicle was travelling fairly slowly. Baggage was tossed into the nose of the van. Passing Railway Road Services buses, and a relief bus sent out from Wangaui. brought the passengers into Wanganui. Eflorts were made to haul the van back to the roadway, but the lift was too great for the breakdown trucks, and the undamaged vehicle slithered 20ft. farther down the hillside, crossed a paddock and from there was driven hack to the highway. The whole operation took three hours. Late yesterday afternoon three private cars skidded on the slippery roadway at Goat Valley and one wos extensively damaged. On St. John's Hill, at the north end of Victoria Avenue, light rain produced similar greasy conditions and several vehicles met difficulties.