SURF TRAGEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22961, 12 February 1938, Page 15

SURF TRAGEDY

BONDI'S BLACK DAY 200 PEOPLE IN PERIL RESCUERS' GREAT WORK,. POIGNANT BEACH SCENES [from ottr own correspondent] SYDNEY. Feb. T - The worst surf-bathing tragedy known in Australia resulted in the loss of six lives off Bondi Beach, Sydney, yesterday when 200 persons were swept to sea by the backwash of huge seas. Four bodies were recovered and two others are missing. Nearly 70 rescuers did magnificent work in bringing the helpless swimmers to safety. They used belts and lines, surf boats, surf skis, and even rubber floats, and many swam out into Ifi? raging surf without any equipment to succour drowning people. Panic among the persons in danger increased«the hazards of the rescuers, and some of them had to fight for their lives fith men who seized them and in frenzied struggles dragged them down. The tragedy would have been far worse if the Bondi Surf Life-Saving Club's teams had not been practising and other members assembled for Thus there was a full force of trained life-savers present, and they were helped by strong swimmers among the crowd. Bride Loses Husband There were poignant scenes on the beach as bathers were brought »ashore, many of them unconscious. There were no means of identifying them, and ' hundreds of people, fearing that friends or relatives were among the rescued, were frantic with anxiety. The work of artificial respiration was carried oil almost without cessation, doctors who had been called from among the crowd on the beach and from their homes giving injections and administering oxygen when this was necessary. Tho most pathetic scene was wben \ the six-months bride of Ronald McGregor, 21, one of the drowned, recognised him as he lay on the beach. Lifesavers had been working on the prostrate form for an hour, and a doctor had just given up hope for his life when a girl in shorts darted through the crowd. She peered anxiously over the heads of the life-savers, recognised her husband, and gavo a piercing scream.

Many Acts of Heroism Carl Jeppeson, captain of the Bondi Surf Club, was one of the chief rescuers, but asked to give the names of men who had distinguished themselves in the rescues, he said it was impossible to mention individuals, so many were the acts of heroism. "Everyone did his job," he said. "All the members of the club who were on the beach went straight into the water. There were at' least 200 persons in trouble at the same time. But for the fact that there were so many life-savers on the beach, many more would have been drowned. There were eight lines out, but many of us had to go in without a line.lt is hard to look back now on what it was like out in that Burf. Thgy were sinking all round us. It was our 'Black Sunday.' The club has been in existence for SO years, and these are the first deaths since we had patrols oh the beach." , . One rescuer's experience was typucal of many. Arthur Elm said that when he reached a group who were among those farthest from the shore, five men seized him and refused to let go. "Some of these men seemed to go mad," he said. "I was trying to take the belt to a yourgster who was right out, but ; I didn't set the chance.

' They Made Tor Me" "As J went by, dozens yelled for help fed tried to grab me. I told them to hang on to the rope as soon as I had got it out, but they didn't wait. They made for me. I didn't think I had a chance when they all came at me. One grabbed me round the neck, two others caught me by an arm, another held me round the waist, and another one seized a leg. I hit the man who had me round the neck. I got in on his chin, and he let go. I had to do it. But for that I would have drowned myself, and some of the others,' too. I know that scores of us weal back to the beach on the line, but I can't remember much about that part of it."

"I have never and never expect to see again, sucn magnificent work as was done by those life-savers," said D&" Marshall W. Dyer, an American visitor who was on the beach. "It was a scene I shall never forget, and when I get back to the United States, I will tell them about your magnificent surf-men. There are no men like them in the world."