DROWNED IN DRAIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22400, 22 April 1936, Page 10

DROWNED IN DRAIN

SEQUEL TO HEAVY RAIN FATE OF A FIJIAN BOY fITROM OTTO OWN CORRESPONDENT] SUVA. April 6 Following several very heavy tropical downpours a small native boy lost his life at < Lautoka under distressing circumstances. Accompanied by another boy he went to play in an open drain that was running past his home in the township of Namoli. As a result of the rain there was a considerable quantity of water running down the "drain, which, ordinarily, is a shallow one running down the side of the road. The force of the water carried the boy off his feet and although his companion grasped him by the hand he was swept away and carried down to a drain pipe that crossed under another road. The drain pipe was not large 9nough to allow his body to pass through and his shoulders jammed in the opening. So great was the suction and the force of water piling up behind him that it required the efforts of two or three men to extricate him. It was too late to save the boy's life, for lie had then been twenty minutes under water. >'