HORRIFIED EYE-WITNESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22968, 21 February 1938, Page 12

HORRIFIED EYE-WITNESS

MOTOR-LORRY ENGULFED "JUST JUMBLE OF BODIES" Tragic error of judgment on the part of 1 1 men, who put their faith in the ability of a 4*-ton motor-lorry to withstand the torrent, resulted in the deaths of them all. A horrified witness of this major tragedy was Mr. R, one of the few who survived the suddent torrent. He was astride a log, being carried helplessly onward, when the men on the lorjry called to him to join them. He tried and failed, and a moment later saw the lorry with its human .freight engulfed by the flood. With the horror of it all so fresh in his mind, Mr. Blair was barely coherent as he told of the tragedy.^ "I saw 1 1 men drown," he said. As I came past on the, log they yelled to me to come to them. They thought they were "Ronnie Halford, Douglas and Fountain were the:only three I knew. They were all together there, on the big 4±-tOT\ truck, and; could do nothing to help me as I was swept by. The truck, used for carrying shingle, was sideways-on to the stream, and the watef and stones turned it over. I "It was pitch dark, but I was only a few feet away and could* see the whole thing. The men were just hurled into the torrent and swept away. They were rushed past my log. was just a jumble of hands and arms and bodies in the water _ "They called for help when the truck started to tip, but there was nobody to help them. It was the finish of them then. "All 1 1 of them disappeared in a flash. There was not even a call once the truck had gone, or if there was it was drowned by the roar of the water and the terrific grinding of the boulders and the smashing of timber. . , . , , "The big truck was just like a plaything in the gup of the current. It was turned over and over until it disappeared in the darkness. The bonnet was picked up later e,ght rmles downstream That was all that was found of it. The rest simply dtsappeared and was probably smashed to pieces. . "The tragedy of it is that the 11 men who were lost had had ample time to reach the cookhouse, where the survivors were in safety. They preferred the truck, thinking it more secure.