THREE KILLED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19820, 23 December 1938, Page 4

THREE KILLED

ANOTHER INJURED CAR CRASHES ON ROCKS FALL OF OVER 300 FEET TRAGEDY NEAR OPOTIKI SHEER. DROP FROM ROAD (Spucial to tho Herald.) OPOTIKI, this day. Three public works employees were killed and another seriously injured last night when a car in which they were travelling left the road at Little Awanui Hill, Maraenui, on the Opo-tiki-Gisborne Coast Highway, and plunged more than 300 ft. on to the rocks on the seashore.

The casualty list is as follows:

KILLED

Edward George Ashley, aged 58, a single man, Te Kaha. Charles Richard Norden, middle-aged, native of Finland, working at Te

Kaha. Thomas Hughes, aged 41, a single man, native of Ireland, working at Te Kaha; he has a brother in Napier. INJURED

Edward Henry Hitchener, aged 20, whose home is at 16 Kara street, Kailti, Gisborne; fractured arm, broken ribs _ and other injuries; condition serious. Start of Holiday The accident occurred at 8 o’clock last night, when the four men were travelling from Te Kaha to Opotiki. They had been working at Te Kaha, and' were starting on their Christmas holidays. The car was driven by Mr. Hitchener. No information is available as to how the accident occurred. The section of the road for a mile or so on either side of the spot is hilly and winding, but the car left the road on a comparatively straight section. There are very steep embankments on that section of the road, some dropping sheer (to jagged rocks on the seashore, while at other stretches they fall to steep gullies. It was on one of the latter portions that a car containing a Main Highways Board party on tour early this year left the road and plunged 100 ft. down a steep drop before it came to rest among some bushes, but fortunately there was no fatality on that occasion. Uninterrupted Fall The spot where last night’s fatal accident occurred is about 15 miles from Opotiki and three-quarters of a mile on the Te Kaha side of where the Main Highways Board accident occurred. The car had an uninterrupted fall to the rocks below. The 'tragedy was discovered by Mr. Dodds, a public works employee, who was driving a lorry along the road shortly afterwards, when he found Mr. Hitchener on the roadside. Mr. Hitchener, despite his injuries, had climbed ,to the roadway after he had extricated himself from the wrecked vehicle. The removal of the bodies was a long task which occupied most of the night.

Mr. Hitchener was removed as quickly as possible to hospital in Opotiki. A report this morning stated that his condition was still serious, and that there 1 was no change in his condition overnight. The inquest was' opened in Opotiki this afternoon, and following identification of the bodies was adjourned.

CYCLIST HURT FATALLY

COLLISION WITH CAR HIGHWAY NEAR MERCER (Bor Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this- day. A motor cyclist received fatal head injuries when his machine was involved in a collision with a motor car on the Great South road, about four miles south of Mercer, yesterday afternoon.

Tiie victim was: Walter John Crowe, aged 21 years, a tractor driver, a son of Mr. and Mrs. James Crowe, of Linton, Palmerston North.

Mr. Crowe, who was employed at the Lone Kauri Camp, Piha, left Auckland for Palmerston North with another motor-cyclist. It was the intention of the pair to spend Christmas at their homes, which are both in the Palmerston North district.