THREE KILLED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23228, 23 December 1938, Page 10

THREE KILLED

CAR OVER CLIFF PUBLIC WORKS MEN PLUNGE OF 300 FT. VICTIMS ON HOLIDAY [HY TELEGRAPH —OWN' CORRESPONDENT] GISBORNE, Thursday Three public works employees were killed and another injured when a small motor-car in which they were travelling left the road and plunged several hundred feet over a cliff at Little Awanui Hill, Maeranui, about 15 miles from Opotiki, on the Gisborno highway tonight. The names of those killed are:—— Mr. Charles Norden, Mr t George Ashley, Mr. Thomas Hughes. Another man, Mr. Eddie Hitchener, aged 26, of Gisborne, also a Pub* lie Works Department employee, suffered fractures of the ribs and the hand. He was admitted to the Opotiki Hospital. His condition is not serious. Car Caught by Tree The men were travelling to Opotiki from a public works camp near Omaio, .'36 miles from Opotiki, where they were employed, to spend their holidays in the town. The car, a two-seater, in which they were travelling apparently went over the edge of the road at a place where it skirts cliffs rising about 500 ft. almost perpendicular from the sea beach. The car plunged down for 300 ft. and would probably have rolled to the beach had it not been caught in a tree. Three of the men were thrown out as the car rolled down the cliff. The Bodies Recovered A man named Dodds and his wife were driving toward the top of the hill when they saw a man crawling toward the road. He was the injured driver of the wrecked car. Mr. Dodds took him in his car to a public works camp at Maeranui, and from there he was removed to the Opotiki Hospital. Meanwhile, the foreman at the camp and about a dozen men went to the scene of the tragedy, and using a long rope they recovered the bodies. The police at Opotiki were notified and Sergeant J. Isbister, accompanied by Dr. H. J. Mail, medical superintendent of the Opotiki Hospital, hurried to the scene, but the three men were dead when they arrived. The bodies were later brought to Opotiki.