TRAGEDY FEARED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21937, 22 October 1934, Page 10

TRAGEDY FEARED

LOST AIR LINER 12 PEOPLE ON BOARD SEARCH PROVES FRUITLESS Olli PATCH ON THE SEA j RUMOUR OF WRECKAGE By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received October 21, 5.5 p.m.) MELBOURNE. Oct. 21 There is still no news of the Tasinanian mail and passenger aeroplane which left Launceston for Melbourne on Friday. There is now a general belief among airmen that the machine lost her tail and nose-dived into Bass Strait. Among rumours current is one that 'wreckage tinlike that of a iisliing-boat was seen from, the cliffs at Lome. The missing lin.er is the Miss Hobart. It is a four-engined de Havilland '• machine under contract to the Commonwealth Government and engaged on the Hobart-Launceston-Melbourne mail and passenger service. It left Launceston in the morning and was expected at Essendon 'at noon, but did not arrive, nor was it reported from any landing grounds en route. The 12 occupants were:—-Captain V. Holyman (chief pilot), Mr. Gilbert Jenkins (pilot), Mr. and Mrs. Colin ■' Jones and infant child, Mr. and Mrs. Drummond, Miss K. Mercer, the Rev. H. E. Warren, Mr. R. Caldwell, Mr. S. Quon and Mr. Gourlay. Grave fears are entertained for the Miss Hobart. Three aeroplanes searched fruitlessly on Friday evening and until an early hour yesterday morning, but "nothing was heard of the missing machine. The Miss Hobart was last heard from when the wireless operator sent a message about 11 a.m. on Friday, giving her position as over Rodondo Island, eight miles off Wilson's Promontory, at tho southern. extremity of Victoria. The message ended, "Everything O.K. There' was some evidence of the machine having passed over Wilson's Promontory. It was thought possible the aeroplane had been forced to land in uninhabited country. This was the opinion of- Captain Johnson, Controller of Civil Aviation. A message telling of the finding of a patch' of oil on the sea near Cape Liptrap, 25 miles north-west of Wilson s Promontory, was received yesterday by the Air Board from the Southampton flying-boat which joined in the search. The message stated that there was no sign of wreckage near the patch of oil. Seven aeroplanes continued the search. The oil was examined by airmen who said they did not think it was from an aeroplane.