HAZARDOUS TASK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26917, 1 November 1948, Page 4

HAZARDOUS TASK

RECOVERING THE BODIES FOUND IN STEEP GULLY p.A. OHAKUNE, Oct. 31. Eye-witnesses state that there is no possibility but that all the victims were killed outright at the moment of impact. Without exception, all suffered severe head injuries which in themselves would have been fatal without the additional injuries received. The first of the bodies, those of an infant and woman, were brought into the base camp on a plateau above the bushline shortly after 1 p.m. on Saturday, and the last was brought in at 4.30 p.m. The task of recovering the bodies and getting them down from the plane was extremely difficult and hazardous as the fuselage had come to rest in a steep snow-covered gully. At first light this morning transport through the bush was begun. The track had been widened since Saturday morning by a party of 25 State Forestry workers, who toiled throughout the day and made possible the rapid progress which brought the first of the bodies to the head of Cowern’s tramline before 8 a.m. The location of the fuselage of the plane and bad snow conditions made a heavy task for the men responsible for bringing out the bodies from the scene of the disaster. Added to this, there was on Friday night at the camp above the bushline what was described by experienced local mountaineers and bushmen as a “ shocking lack of organisation.” The fuselage of the plane landed when it was torn away from the rest of the liner in a steep gully with soft snow faces. To get to the gully the party had to approach up a. ridge on the north side of the Mangaturuturu Valley, and then slideOsome 400 ft down. For this reason the more elderly members of the party who were inexperienced were unable to get down. Once down, there was no way out except straight down the gully, and all the bodies had to be sledged down the gully for 1000 ft or more off the snow. In this connection, stretchers put in by excellent precision drops by the air force were largely useless as they would not stand the conditions encountered. Tributes to the work done at the scene of the crash and afterwards by Constables Gardiner,. Adsett, Beaton, Ward and Dudley, and W. E. Hussey, a civilian, were paid by others in the party to-night. In addition, there were many other local volunteers —bushmen and mountaineers —including Messrs Tom Shout, Ken. Hussey and Charles Herkert, who did great service. Constables Gardiner, Adsett, Ward and Dudley were the first to reach tne plane at 8.45 on Saturday morning, and they recovered all the matches from the bodies and the instrument panel from the plane, which were handed to the air authorities.

The highest praise is also given by all to the Air Force for its excellent service in dropping supplies and all equipment right at the feet of the jlarty when required. In the task of carrying the bodies through the bush, a party of 20 military men from Waiouru also assisted greatly. The amateur radio at the base camp on the bushline was operated by Messrs Doug. Sandford and Alex. McLean, of Raetihi. At the end of the bush tramline, Messrs Dave Prime' and Tim Teehan operated as a relay, and at Cowern’s Mill Messrs Don. Vaughan and Frank Keucke maintained the final link with the Ohakune Courthouse, which was operated by Dick Powell. A remarkable performance in going to help at the scene of the crash was put up by Messrs W. F. Hussey, a Post and Telegraph employee, and Mr Joe Thompson, a Maori, of Raetihi. Unable to leave duty on Friday, Messrs Hussey and Thompson left Raetihi at 5 a.m. on Saturday and bicycled nine miles to Ohakune Junction. From there they walked nine miles up through the bush to Blyth Hut on Mount Ruapehu to south of the scene of the crash, arriving at Blyth Hut at 9 a.m. They had breakfast and then set out for ihe crash four miles away across soft snow, reaching the crash at 11 a.m., where Mr Hussey was said to be “ the hardest slogger of the lot.” Mr Hussey adyances the theory from his experience of crashes which he saw in service overseas that the pilot was attempting to cut the plane down. His theory was based on the nature of the terrain before the plane hit the rock face.