CAR RAISED

Southland Times, Issue 22009, 8 May 1933, Page 8

CAR RAISED

BODIES RECOVERED THE WALLACETOWN TRAGEDY INQUEST FORMALLY OPENED Undaunted by the failure of their first attempts to raise from the bed of the Makarewa the ill-fated car involved in Friday night’s tragedy the salvage gangs of Russell’s service truck and Mr Angus Macintosh’s motor ambulance continued their task in the early hours of Saturday morning and by 4 a.m. the front of the car was pulled on to the bank and the sodden vehicle made secure.

Half an hour earlier the crane had succeeded in lifting the car partly above the surface of the water, and while many willing hands had with ropes held it from slipping back the bodies of Mrs Milne and her daughter Belle were removed from the rear of the car by means of an improvised ladder from the river bank to the car. The body of Miss Jean Somerville was not in the vehicle.

Only those who were present during the salvage operations can appreciate the great difficulties with which the men had to contend. Their task was an unpleasant one in every way, but their energy was tireless and their refusal to be dismayed by fresh obstacles most commendable. Mr William Harris in particular won admiration, for at great discomfort and some risk he stood in the river assisting in the operation of retrieving the bodies.

After the car had been made secure at 4 a.m. work was suspended until daylight. Before ten o’clock the car was dragged completely out of the water and on to the road by means of a wrecking crane, it being then removed to Russell’s garage. When drawn from the water the car was found to have its front door on the driver’s side open. Most of the glasswork 6f the car was shattered and the steering wheel was snapped off. Throughout Saturday the police and volunteers searched for Miss Somerville’s body, but without success. Yesterday morning Constables Mcßae and Beadle and a party resumed the search, their task in the pitiless, driving rain and hail being an unenviable one. At 3.45 p.m. the body was found in three feet of water at a point a mile and a half below the bridge by Mr J. T. Wilson, an uncle of the deceased girl.

On Saturday afternoon an inquest on the bodies of Mrs Milne and her daughter Belle was opened before Mr E. C. Levvey, S.M., Coroner, and adjourned sine die after formal evidence of identification had been taken.