DISASTROUS LANDSLIDE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3594, 30 January 1923, Page 49

DISASTROUS LANDSLIDE.

ONE MAN KILLED; ANOTHER M I.ASINO. COMPANION’S MIRACULOUS ESCAPE. CHRISTCHURCH, January 27. A big landslip at Puaha, four miles from Little River, and about 40 miles south of Christchurch, occurred shortly after midnight, owing to the heavy rain. A party of grass-seeders were caught in the slip, and Griffith Pidgeon. a married man, aged 30 years, was killed, while his brother, Frederick Pidgeon, a single man (of Purau), and James How-ard were injured. Howard had to be dug out, and was seriously injured. The constable at Little River, in telephoning for assistance to dig the men out, stated that the debris extended for two miles. A party of constables has gone out. Later particulars from Little River state (hat Howard’s body has not. been recovered from the debris, and parties are searching for it. The slip began at the top of a hill which is, 800 ft or 900 ft high, and it strewed the debris over .two miles. Mr ,T. Chapman’s house, on the bill, was moved from its foundations. Frederick Pidgeon, who escaped from tile big land slip at Puaha, near Little River, is in Christchurch Hospital suffering from cuts on the face, head, and laxly. He had a miraculous escape from a dreadful death. “My brother and 1 were in one tent, and Howard was in another one by himself,” he said. “ The creek began to roar and sag up, and big stones and boulders went down it. My brother and I were used to that hind of thing, but it became so bad that we got ‘ the wind up.’ \Ye were lying in the tent with a candle burning, and 1 said to my brother, ’ I don’t like it.’ He said, ‘I don’t, either.’ I suggested that we should get up to go into a hut close by where we cooked our meals. Just then there came a terrific roar. I said. ‘Come on,’ and I rushed for the hut. Before I oould reach it I felt that, something had caught me atul lifted me high in the air. I was not unconscious, but ordv semi-conscious. In the rain and dark 1 was hurled along in a mass of mud, water, sticks, and stones. Sometimes I sprawled on the top of it and sometimes it seemed to open up and press all around me. During my struggles I saw a light- in a hut belonging to Mr Humphries, and I managed to work my way towards it, and I was taken in and attended to. I must have been carried quite a mile, but I seemed to go very rapidly. 'Hie experience was awful. I would rather die than go through it again. I did not see my brother alive after we rushed out- of the hut, and I did not see Howard once after the alarm ’’ When rescued Frederick Pidgeon was absolutely naked, his clothes having been torn off him in his struggle for life in the boiling creek, and be was in a terrible state of exhaustion. He had a terrible experience while being washed down the creek, but he was able to catch hold of a tree and stop his progress.* The body of Griffilh Pidgeon was found lying on the road a short distance above t.he hut where Frederick Pidgeon was rescued. A vine was tightly drawn round his neck, death apparently having been due to strangulation. Great heaps of debris were brought down by the .flooded ..creek, arid a large heap of debris marked tht spot where the body of Griffith Pidgeon was found and where his brother Frederick was rescued. James Howard, the third member of the party, is still missing, and a large party yf volunteers are at work searching among the debris for bis body. Howard arrived only yesterday from Westport. Mr J. Chapman’s house, which is within a few yards of the creek, was badly damaged, the walls being smashed in, but the inmates escaped bv chopping away the timbers with an axe. Other houses suffered damage by water which backed up to a depth of 3ft in some instances. Mr Fenton, one of the rescuers, states that at 1.5 a.m. he was awakened by a noise, and was in the act of dressing when he saw someone looking through the window. He said, “Js that you, Watkins,” and the man replied, “No, it’s Fred. Pidgeon. Come and give me a hand.” Ho opened the door, and Pidgeon fell in in a heap, exhausted. They fixed him up in a warm bed and gave him stimulants. Later Fenton and Hansen went to the assistance of the others. At first they had no light, and they could see nothing in the pitch darkness. The went up the road a short distance until they were stopped by the debris. While on the road they passed something that they thought was a tree stump, but which afterwards was found to be the body of Griffith Pidgeon. They then went back and put a candle in a bottle, which they used as a lamp. Fred. Pidgeon asked them to see if James Chapman, whose house was at the foot of the slip, was still alive. The house was eventually reached, but they found it deserted. Griffith Pidgeon had left his home in Little River, where his parents are old residents, only yesterday. He was a married man. and leaves a widow and one child a week old. Mrs Pidgeon. is in a private nursing home in Christchurch.