CAR OVER CLIFF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22618, 5 January 1937, Page 8

CAR OVER CLIFF

THREE PEOPLE INJURED MISHAP NEAR ALBANY DIFFICULT RESCUE WORK WOMAN GITEN ANAESTHETIC Three people returning by motorcar to Auckland last night from a holiday at Red Beach were injured when their car ran off the road at a point about one mile this side of Albany and somersaulted lOQft. over the cliff which drops down from the side of the road. The driver, Mr. J. K. Martin, of 44 Pah Road, Epsom, escaped with injuries to his back, but Mrs. Martin suffered a fracture of the pelvis. Her daughter received cuts and abrasions.

Difficulty was experienced in bringing the injured up the steep slope to the road, and about a dozen people laboured with stretchers for over an hour in the darkness and heary rain before the task was done.

Dr. K. H. Holdgate. summoned from Birkenhead, had to administer an anaesthetic to Mrs. Martin beside the wrecked car beiore she could be mo red. She was taken with her daughter and husband in a St. John ambulance from Devonport to the Auckland Hospita;. being admitted approximately two hours after the accident. Mrs. Martin s condition earlj this morning was stated to be serious, but the condition of Mr. Martin and his daughter was not serious.

The road at the point where the accident occurred is narrow and twisting and the mishap occurred when heavy rain was falling. Had it not been for the assistance of passing motorists who stopped and lent a hand the injured might have reached hospital even later than they did. The car. a saloon model, came to rest wheels uppermost, wrecked beyond repair.