SWEPT INTO RIVER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22318, 16 January 1936, Page 8

SWEPT INTO RIVER

TARANAKI BOY'S FATE CAUGHT BY ROADSIDE SLIP' LOST IN FLOODED WATERS MOTOR-LORRY ALSO ENGULFED [by telegraph OWN correspondent] NEW PLYMOUTH. Wednesday An unusual set of circumstances resuited in the drowning of Terence Hall, the eight-year-old son of Mr. C. T. Hall, of Urenui. a storekeeper, in the flooded waters of the Onaero River, near Urenui. this morning. An extensive slip occurred yesterday on the Mataro Road, which runs alongside the Onaero River, .and completely blocked the road. Two lorries were therefore needed to collect cream from the settlers on the Mataro Road, the cans being transferred from a lorry on one side of the slip to another on the other side.

The transfer had just been, made this morning when another big slip came down, catching the empty lorry and sweeping it into the river. The child, who was standing 011 or beside the lorry, was swept down also by the slip, but had partially regained his footing in a perilous position, and was endeavouring to scramble on hands and knees to safety, when, a further slip followed almost immediately on the first fall. The boy was carried away into the river and was not seen again. The river was heavily in flood, but boats were immediately put out to patrol it and keep a careful lookout. The boy's body had not been discovered by nightfall. The search has been made doubly difficult by the fact that slips continue to fall, and it is thought that not a great deal can be done until the river has gone down. The water is 25ft. deep and the river full of snags. Xo sign of the lorry has been seen. To-day's slips, which comprise between 7000 and 8000 cubic yards of material, are of spoil which has been deposited on the side of the hill from the widening of the Auckland-New Plymouth main highway.