IN THE SNOW

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 154, 9 July 1934, Page 5

IN THE SNOW

FOUB PEOPLE MABOONBD HAVE SINCE BEEN LOCATED (Per Press Association) DUNEDIN, Last Night. A reassuring message dropped from a plane at Clark’s Junction on Saturday relieved fears felt for the safety of two miners and a woman and child reported to be snow-bound in an old sod hut up in the Lammermoor Range. The members of the party are Mr and Mrs Jenkins and their son and Bob Lorimer, all of Dunedin..

Eight days ago and old miner, Rodgers, • anticipating a storm, fruitlessly advised Jenkins to take his party to a lower level. When it was found yesterday that the party had not collected their usual stores at Clark’s Junction, hurried arrangements were made for a rescue party, for it was known that there was only 24 hours’ tiring material in the snow-bound hut, which is at the 4000 foot level with 20 feet of snow. At 11 o’clock this morning the Aero Club despatched Captain Olsen in his Waco plane with food supplies and firewood. The camp was located and the party gave an assurance of their safety, and a heavy package of round wood was dropped attached to an improvised parachute, the plane returning to Clark’s Junction to prevent the despatch of the large rescue party that had assembled. A further development in connection with the marooned mining party occurred last night when a brother of Robert Lorimer called on the president of the Otago Aero Club (Air H. L. Paterson) and announced that something mysterious had occurred. When the aeroplane flew over on Saturday the occupants saw only one man, a woman and a child ,and when this was considered, together with the fact that a letter from Lorimer showed that he had been at Clark’s Junction last Friday week, and it was realised that for the past week or more he had been neither at Clark’s Junction, as t'fie mining party imagined, nor at the camp, but somewhere in between. It was learned that one June 29 he had come out to Clark’s Junction for stores and had started back again. A large search party was instituted and started out early this morning. Although nothing very definite has been received yet, it is reported that Lomimer has been found alive and well except for being a little frostbitten. It is assumed that he had been sheltering in a gully somewhere and subsisting on the food which he was carrying to the camp when overtaken by the. blizzard.