TWO MEN DROWNED

Press, Volume C, Issue 29513, 15 May 1961, Page 10

TWO MEN DROWNED

S. Canterbury Floods

(N.Z. Press Association) TIMARU, May 14. Two men were drowned in floods in South Canterbury at the week-end. A young man is presumed to have drowned early on Saturday morning after hitcar plunged into the flooded Orari river through a twospan gap torn in the Upper Orari bridge. He was Alan A. Ross, aged 26. single, of Bechops Hill Station, Burkes Pass. Another man was drowned when he drove his car into a scoured-out ford at Elephant Hill creek in the Waimate district on Friday night. He was Keith Thomson, aged 41, single, a farm worker, of Redcliff. Mr Ross had been visiting friends at Carew. MidCanterbury, and left for Geraldine about 4.20 a.m. on Saturday. He was reported missing later in the morning after failing to appear at the Geraldine Trust Hotel, where he had been booked in for the night. Two spans at the southern end of the Upper Orari bridge were torn out by floodwaters early in the morning, and it is thought that Mr Ross drove along the bridge and plunged through the gap.

His light truck was sighted about a quarter of a mile below the bridge this morning by a topdressing pilot searching the river. Recovery

work began at 1.30 p.m. and the vehicle was taken from the river four hours later. Mr Ross’s body had not been found at a late hour tonight. Police patrols will return to the river this morning. Mr Thomson was apparently driving home from Waimate to Redcliff when his car dropped into the scouredout ford. The car was found by a farmer about 9.30 p.m. The water was half way up the windscreen and the headlights were still on. Mr Thomson’s body was not found until daylight, about half a mile down stream. The Elephant Hill creek was little more than a trickle when Mr Thomson forded it ? a r H %J n . the da y on the trip into Waimate. Heavy rain in the area swiftly changed it into a torrent.