Youth killed as car falls 400m

Press, 2 March 1982, Page 2

Youth killed as car falls 400m

A Sunday fishing trip to Little Akaloa ended in tragedy when two Christchurch youths in a car crashed about. 400 metres' down a hillside below the Port LevyPigeon Bay Road. One of the youths was killed. He was Gavin Alfred Richens, aged .18, a window-dresser, of 19 Glenmore Avenue, Northcote. Mr Richens’s, companion, Raymon Cosser, aged 18, was rescued yesterday after spending the night in the wrecked car. He was reported to be in a fairly comfortable condition in Christchurch Hospital last evening with head injuries, multiple bruising, and shock. Mr Richens and Mr Cosser, in company with two friends in another car, had travelled to Little Akaloa to spend the day fishing, and left to return .to Christchurch about 4.30 p.m. The police were alerted when Mr Richens and Mr Cosser failed to arrive home,

and policemen from Lyttelton and Akaroa started a search along the steep, winding road above the eastern bays of Banks Peninsula at 7 a.m. The wreckage of the Hillman Hunter car was found at 9.40 a.m., about 400 metres down a steep slope. Because of the difficult terrain a specialist police search-and-rescue team from Christchurch was called in. It took until 12.15 p.m. to carry Mr Cosser up to an ambulance.