CAR CRASHES INTO RIVER

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 24 August 1935, Page 6

CAR CRASHES INTO RIVER

FEARS FOR ONEi OCCUPANT ACCIDENT NEAR MOKAU What is thought to be a drowning accident occurred on Thursday evening when a car travelling from Pio Pio to Aria ran off" the road near Wairere bridge and crashed into the flooded Mokau River. All the occupants of the car except one are known to be safe. It is feared that Mr. A. G. (“Scotty”) Clark has been drowned. Mr Clark was manager of a farm two miles on the Aria side of Pio Pio. Besides Mr Clark, there were five young men in the car—Messrs. S. Wolfe, Buckman (2) and Langman (2). The car belonged to Mr Langman, of Pio Pio. The car evidently ran off the road near the bridge and sank to the bottom of the river, which after recent rains was running high, and it is thought the depth at this particular spot i s over 16 feet. The young men managed to free themselves from the car and struggle to safety. They are almost certain Mr Clark also got free, but it is thought he must have floated down the river, which was running swiftly; it was qlso bitterly cold. A few chains below the bridge are the Wairere Falls, over which a tremendous volume of water rushes, and it is considered Mr Clark would have little chance of coming through alive if he had been swept down the river. Mr Clark is a middle-aged- returned soldier. A search was begun yesterday morning by the police and residents of the locality, but so far no sign has been found of either Mr Clark or the car.