ALPINE TRAGEDY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25429, 10 January 1944, Page 2

ALPINE TRAGEDY

BODIES NOT RECOVERED BAD WEATHER CAUSES DELAY The efforts that have been made to recover the two bodies which were observed' on a dangerous portion of Mount Malte Brun on January 3 have so far proved unsuccessful. A party under police supervision has been stationed for some days at the Malte Brun Hut, which is situated at a height of 5500 feet and is about eight miles from Mount Cook. It has been Impossible to reach the bodies in the prevailing bad weather, and until better conditions allow, no further attempt will be made. In anticipation of the weather clearing within a few days, the party which was sent to the scene of the discovery is remaining at the hut. Only one of the bodies has been visible to the police party, and it has not been possible to see the end of the attached rope, where it is thougnt that the second body may be located. Until the bodies or the equipment seen nearby are recovered, no final identiflcation can be made. The two bodies were observed on a cliff-like slope of the mountain byMessrs Bruce Gillies, of Oamaru, and H. Stevenson, of Weston, who descended the mountain on January 3. It is thought that the bodies are those of Sergeant W. P. Morton, of Auckland, and Leading Aircraftman W F. Wallis, of Christchurch, who failed to return to the Hermitage after a projected trip to the Malte Brun hut m March of last year.