ORDEAL IN CAVE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21346, 22 November 1932, Page 8

ORDEAL IN CAVE

FARMER SERIOUSLY HURT

COLLAPSE OF LEDGE

MAN FALLS ON TO ROCKS

RESCUERS' ARDUOUS TASK

[from oub own correspondent]

HAMILTON, Monday

As the result of a fall of 30ft. from a ledge in a limestone cave near Honikiwi yesterday, a farmer, Mr. Thomas Higginson Bond, aged 52, married, of Teraumauku Road, near Otorokonga, fractuied his skull and suffered other injuries.

With a picnic party of neighbours, Mr. Bond was exploring the cave which is in a gully at tho rear of his property. The party was passing along a narrow ledge above a deep crevice several chains from the entrance to the cave when the ground collapsed under Mr. Bond's feet. He fell down a steep and rough slope on to the rocks at the edge of an underground stream.

Six of Mr. Bond's companions experienced great difficulty in reaching the injured man, and only after strenuous exertions wero they able to hoist him on their shoulders up the sheer rock face. Daylight streaming through a hole in the roof of the cave assisted the rescuers.

The task of carrying Mr. Bond over a boulder-strewn track to the mouth of the cave, which is difficult of access, proved arduous, but the injured man, who was semi-conscious throughout the ordeal, was eventually placed on a sledge and conveyed to his home.

Mr. Bond was admitted to the Waikato Hospital last evening and, although his injuries are serious, his condition is reported to be fairly satisfactory.