SEQUEL TO AIR LINER CRASH

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20513, 3 September 1936, Page 9

SEQUEL TO AIR LINER CRASH

GRIM SUFFERINGS OF OCCUPANTS “RESCUED IN NICK OF TIME” United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph —Copyright KARACHI, September 1. Eight of the Horsa’s passengers, who arrived, looked dishevelled and haggard, and were not inclined to discuss their experiences. One said the Royal Air Force ’planes located the Horsa not a minute too soon. It was impossible to say how many could have withstood the ordeal much longer. Some might even have died. The passengers will depart for their various destinations after resting a night. Trials of Passengers. Mr F. Crocombe, the aircraft designer, who was among the passengers, said the pilot made a good landing in the darkness, but while taxi-ing struck a hillock. The rations aboard the Horsa consisted of a few sandwiches, a small quantity of bottled water, chocolate and mineral water, on which eight passengers and four of a crew lived for 30 hours. The heat was intense in the daytime, which was spent undec the wings of the machine. The pilot fainted from exhaustion, and the second officer collapsed from a heart attack. The passengers collected dew from the wings a few hours before the arrival of the Royal Air Force machine, bringing water bags. Lucky Recovery. The discovery of the Horsa was made by the luckiest chance. The air force machine had turned back towards Bahrein, after an apparently vain search, when a sudden break in the clouds enabled the Horsa to be picked out. The passengers, exhausted by the day’s heat rested on the lower plane, taking turns to roll to the edge, to receive the coolness of the dew falling from the upper plane. Dew was also collected with sponges and squeezed into thermos flasks, to eke out the small water supply, which was rationed immediately it was realised that rescue might be delayed. The metalwork of the Horsa could not be touched during the day time owing to the heat. The nearest habitation was a native village 20 miles distant. Black scorpions were the only living things seen until the rescuers arrived.