COACH ACCIDENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14725, 3 October 1918, Page 2

COACH ACCIDENT.

ON OTIRA. GORGE TRIP. GREYMOUTH, Sept. 27. | It was fairly. late when the Otira express arrived! here last night, and the report that an accident had occurred to one of the coaches: brought a large ' number of excited people to the station to see its arrival. The mishap took place about a mile from Otira, and i seems to have been caused by the breaking of the king-bolt ■on - one of the coaches. ! The occupants had ail almost miracuj lous escape. The passengers had only a few seconds' warning of what, was i going to occur. The most serious case- , seems to be that of Sergeant" Halligan, who • was returning to, his home at Rcefton, and who sustained 'a double fracture of the arm and also some injuries to bis head. • Private Bullman, also a. returning man;-' on his.:\vay to- Reefton, received rather j severe injuries. The driver, who, it is -i stated, Was dragged along some distance •andv. thrown.,, out on his heady received a severe - shaking, as did all the other passengers (twelve- in number), who- escaped \vith ,mbre or less injury. Ml\ J. Lewis, of- Timaru, accompanied, by ;his' .wife A and daughter, were occupants of the upturned yeliicle, .aiid m an . interview, with a. Star, reporter, stated that; iii . the coach there were, about ' twelve passengers' # ahd also -'. luggage. When' -about three-quarters '■ of the Avay down the -gorge and about lso yards from 'a. hematite-painted bridge,' •the coach started to swirig;- Mr. Lewis' and his daughter were oh -the-: extreme right, so when the vehicle! fell to the' , left they, were -ejected a considerable distance into the air,- tfnd were showered down with the.,resfof itherpasseiigers: over, the ridge by. the roadside.' He crawled up to the road, where isomeone asked 'him- if,' he was' aU'right., By this ■ time .the^ coach- - . was 'being dragged on its side along, the road towards the- bridgeV into which *it jcrashed and was- smashed "to pieces, the' two front wheels arid, ..the* horses-' coming/ away from , the coach. A returned Soli dier with a, fractured arm ■■ was Jying, om the ground after a miraculous escape: - Another returned man" had a broken ami and was bleeding "at the head. Mi\ Lewis, said-. he» wondered tliat they weie not all' killed. " -Mrs: Lewis and her, daughter :were^ both feeling the effects "of .the ''/.accident, the : daughter having sustained' injuries' to her left arm. /i'he -road,' he« remarked, was marked with brood; one'- of the liors'esY breaking. 'its .fetlocks arid 'lie thought" that. the ariiiria I would have to bfa shot.. .'.'/ ../ .^' ' ; •A- Returned soldier,- .one, of the • passengers onj the. outside of the coach, said: • The; first, signs of an accident cairie -with the snapping .of the kirigholt, wheii'the front of the' coach lifted, swung iri mid-air for .a timey then lurch' ed toward>-.tho, left ; throwing ' -all out except the driver (.17 Searle) and, a retiirned man, ' -who -remained . m '-; "the vehicle for abput' ! 100 yards, when the horses with . the .'two front, .-wheels broke away from the rest : of the coach, and bolted aloiig' ! the gorge. „ '■■' '. v Private E. O'Donnell, a returned soldier, the only passenger^ who travelled inside the coach stated that 1 as the air was fairly cool lie was travelling -. inside ."With" a' rug wrapped ■ round' him, when suddenly the coach seemed to swerve and"feir right -'dVer'o^ s tb'" its side, arid threw him against the wall , and then the-floor^ of the - moving vehicle.-: His ■foot was jambed once between the road and,, the door, but extricating himself from the baggage inside he struggled out by climbing through the door above him> and .fell out on to the' road. He didVnot feel -th© effects of the accident very, much. '; ' ••■ Mr. B.G. Cotter, of, Cotter and Mackeiisiie, Greymouth, who has made the passage?; across - the; .gorge bn scores of occasibnSi- stated : After *U»eJ swaying arid swinging of the coach indicated that the king-bolt was awry'" the coach proceeded fifteen or twenty yards, being skilfully piloted by the driver alongside the stone wall, so that any risk to the passengers CQuld beY minimised as far as was humanly possible. The passengers also stated great credit is due to the driver for his ' skill', promptness, and quickness of mind m averting what looked ' at ' the beginning like a very serious accident to lifevand limb. The driver pluckily . stuck to the reins, and was dragged a considerable distance. -..,.-