MERCY DASH BY AIR
Epidemic On Penrhyn Is.
(NZ. Press Association)
WELLINGTON. May 1. A Royal New Zealand Air Force Sunderland flyingboat today began a 1500-mile mercy dash from Fiji to Penrhyn Island, in the northern Cook group, where
hundreds of natives are stricken with dysentery and scurvy.
A ship has not visited the Island since January, and medical supplies and food are low.
The Sunderland is carrying a ton of food, as well as medical supplies. It is expected to arrive at Penrhyn tomorrow afternoon. The first news of the island’s epidemic was received when the Resident Governor of Rarotonga passed on a message to the R.N.Z.A.F. at Lauthala Bay. He asked that medical supplies and food be taken to the island, as a scurvy and dysentery epidemic had broken out among the population of 600.
The aircraft took off today, and was expected to spend tonight at Samoa. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant J. B Irvine, of Nelson, expected to be at Penrhyn about 3 p.m. tomorrow.
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Press, Volume C, Issue 29502, 2 May 1961, Page 12
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168MERCY DASH BY AIR Press, Volume C, Issue 29502, 2 May 1961, Page 12
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