FALL OVER CLIFF

Hokitika Guardian, 16 May 1933, Page 7

FALL OVER CLIFF

INTO THOUSAND FEET RAVINE,

MAN HAS miraculous ESCAPE.

■BLENHEIM, May 10. While mustering on the high country on the Leatham ‘run, Mr Alexander AWard, a son of Mf G- J. Ward, of Blenheim, met with a sensational accident, falling headlong over a precipitous cliff, and being s av ed from de-th in the rocky c reek bed a thousand feet below only by the fact this his downward progress was arrested by a tough shrub. He w>as badly knocked about, and is now an inmate of the Stafford Hospital. The full extent of his injuries hag not yet been determined, but it is not anticipated that there will be any serious complications. So far he is being treated for broken ribs, a badly sprained ankle. head injuries, and numerous cuts and abrasions, in addition to which he is bruised au orer.

Mr Ward, with a party, had been mustering above the snow line in the steep and precipitous ba c k country or th e run, and found himself ahead of his section when he reached, the lip of an abyss, some 1200 feet in depth, a t the bottom of -which flows Boulder CreekWhile waiting for the others, he placed ;|his staS against a rock near the edge of the cliff and leaned against it. ! Either the rock gave w a y, or the staff slipped, and the -unfortunate man was precipitated headlong. He - shee r 60 feet in one drop, and was then caught in a shingle slide which carried him, unconscious, a further 60 or 70 feet, but fortunately he brought up against a stout tawhine bush, which arrested his progress on the extreme edge of a further sheer -drop of 120 feet, followed by a steep descent o r a thousand feet to the creek bed One of the other musterers ®aw Mr Ward fall and summoned the whole party, but it was impossible to reach him from above, and they had to descend to the creek bed and fight their way up to where Mr Ward lay in hi? precarious position. He \va s hau'ed to a safer place, and then began a nightmare march to -bring him out. Thg descent to the creek-bed, lowering an improvised stretcher from ’ one man to an other, occupied two and a half houre. after which the stretch er-bearerg— Mess r s John Jackson, Walter Jackson. Joseph Reynolds and W. Lane —were faced with a seven-mile trek down *he rocky gorge, often up to their -middles in the icy snow-water, They had to cross and re-crosg the creek over 3* 1 times, and it was carrying a fair volume of water. In addition, many steep spurs bad to be negotiated. The men became so cold that their hattd s lost all Sense of feeling. Hearing the homestead M r J. Crow cam© out ana rendered welcome assistance, but the Journey down the -creek occupied over five hours und the party were thorough* ly exhausted. Mr Ward was brought into Bleuhejm in ,a motor-truck, arriving in hospital at 10 o’clock—just 12 ho-urs after the accident.

In addition to the splendid work of the resoue .party, Mr Paul Reynolds put up something in the nature of a record when Mr Ward’s phght was first discovered. The party had no materials with which to construct a stretcher, and M r Reynolds set out across the steep country for tneT~ c'amp six miles distant. Here he procured sacks and blankets and Ife wias back at the scene of the accident in under two hours.