DROWNING TRAGEDY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 28 June 1943, Page 4

DROWNING TRAGEDY

WIDOW AND FOUR CHILDREN SHOCKING OCCURRENCE IN SOUTH , Invercargill, June 27. | A drowning tragedy in which a widow and four of her six children lost their j lives in tlie Waihopai River, on the I outskirts cf Invercargill, occurred on j Saturday night. The victims were:—( Emma Atkinson Robertson, aged 37, the mother; Struan Robertson, aged 4; James, aged 5; N#n. aged 3; and Marion. aged 2. Mrs Robertson's husband, Mr James Robertson, died 10 months ago. Early on Saturday evening, according to the police. Mrs Robertson took the children for a walk to a nearby bridge, and dropped each child into the river, following herself. The eldest child. Joan, aged 7. and Alistair, aged 4, were able to scramble ashore. The others sank immediately or were carried downstream by the fast-running The police recovered the bodies of the mother and Struan to-day.—P.A. SECOND VICTIM OF FIRE Christchurch, June 27. Arthur William Vincent Wilson, who received severe injuries in a fire at 166 Durham street on Friday, died in hospital to-day. He is the second victim of this fire, his son, Neil William Wilson, aged three, having been burnt to death in one of the back rooms of the house. —P.A. DEATH OF MOTOR-CYCLIST N*w Plymouth, June 27. n leading aircraftman of the R.N.Z.A.F. was killed when the motor-cycle he was riding collided head-on with a car at Bell Block at about midday on Saturday. The victim was Peter John Clarke, aged 24, single, whose parents live at Te Araroa. He received severe head injuries and died immediately.