Second Victim of Egmont Tragedy Frozen to Death

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 43, 13 May 1927, Page 9

Second Victim of Egmont Tragedy Frozen to Death

HAD CRAWLED HALF A MILE (Special to THE SUN.} NEW PLYMOUTH, To-day. THE body of Noel Baines, the second victim of the Egmont tragedy, was found this morning, about half a mile from where Mr. Latham’s body lay. He had crawled some distance, and had then fallen over a 20ft. bank, being frozen to death.

The members of the party were: KILLED. Mr. Fenton Latham, aged 50, master at Wanganui Collegiate School. Mr. Noel Baynes, aged 35, also a master at Wanganui Collegiate School. INJURED Mr. Percival Taylor, music master and organist, aged 35 years, lies in the Hawera Hospital. He was in a critical condition when found, lying unconscious across the body of Mr. Latham. He had been long exposed in ice and snow at an altitude of 7,000 ft. Dennis Allen, a pupil at the College, is 16 years of age. He was freed from the rope during the fall. He struggled to the Dawson Falls Hostel, missing the proper track arid wandering down the Kapuni River. He also lies in the Hawera Hospital. FEARFUL SLIDE TO DEATH. It was a terrible glissade over 800 ft. of ice and snow that so ended in tragedy. The party of four left the Dawson Falls Hostel at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday. They reached the summit, and making the descent one of them slipped on the ice about half-way down to Fantham’s Peak. All four were hurled down the central couloir directly above Fantham’s Peak, missing the rugged Kapuni Gorge to the left. They were found about 1,500 ft. from the summit. Mr. Latham had reecived terrible injuries to the head. It seems plain thaj the party slid 350 ft. and came to rest. Somehow the boy became freed, and the dazed struggles of the others caused them to slide on a further 450 ft. How Mr. became separated from the rest is not known. The party carried at least two ice-axes. It is thought that they used steps cut by a previous party, and that one of these collapsed. A search party consisting of Messrs. Murphy and White, who are permanently stationed at the hostel, made an unsuccessful quest. It was a second party, organised by Constable J. O’Donoghue, that found Mr. Taylor and the body of Mr. Latham. That was at 2.50 a.m.

Mr. Davey, of Hawera, one of the search party, returned last night exhausted and unable to give a coherent account of the trials undergone.