YOUNG CYCLIST KILLED

Taranaki Daily News, 12 April 1935, Page 7

YOUNG CYCLIST KILLED

HIT BY EXPRESS TRAIN

HURLED 50 FEET ALONG TRACKS.

RIDER CONFUSED BY SHUNTING.

PROBABLE CAUSE OF ACCIDENT.

By Telegraph—Press- Association. Invercargill, Last Night.

The railway crossing at the junction of Bridge and Main Streets, Mataura, was the scene of a fatal accident shortly after midday to-day, when a cyclist, lan McQuillan, aged 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. McQuillan, Mataura, was struck by the Dunedin-Invercargill express and received severe injuries from which he died in the Gore Hospital at 4.30 p.m. « It is stated that a special stock train was shunting to the freezing works, and that this obscured the view of the line. At the same time the Invercargill-Clinton train was on the loop at the station, and it is believed that McQuillan mistook the shunting train for this one. When the shunting train had passed on towards the freezing works Mr. McQuillan mounted his cycle to cross towards the main street, not observing the express rushing towards him, He was hurled some 50 feet along the track, and fell between two sets of rails. He was severely injured about the back- and head, and suffered a broken arm, but was still conscious when taken in the ambulance to Gore.