FATAL CROSSING SMASH

Chronicle (Levin), 10 April 1948, Page 4

FATAL CROSSING SMASH

Man Killed And Two Injured At Makerua

Gne man, an Italian, was killed and two Maoris injured, one of them seriously. when- a truek was struck by the Napier-Wellington Express at" Makerua level erossing, three miles north of Shannon, at 1.30. o'clock yesterday afternoon. They were: . v . Killed LUIGI NOARA, ■ niiddle-aged," market gardener, Opiki, driver of the vehicle. ■ , Injured ROBERT RORE, niiddle-aged, market gardener, employed by Noara; abrasions afid shock; condition satisfactory.v • • PETER HEREMAIA, aged. 19, market gardener, - also employed by Noara; fractured leg and concussion; condition serious. The train, which does not stop at Makerua and was therefore travelling fast, hit the truck with terrific iorce, pushing it over an embankment a few yards from the erossing. The men were thrown clear of the wrecked vehicle, Noara being found some 25 -yards further along the line. * Four nurses who were passengers on the train r.endered. first aid to the injured pending the arrival of i, doctor from Shannon, and they were then taken by ambulance to :he Palmerston North Hospital. The three men had been loading empty sacks on the truck at the Makerua station, 200 yards north of the erossing, and were retuming to Noara's garden at Opiki. The road from the station to the erossing runs parallel beside the railway, and then turns at right angles up a sharp incline to the line. Though the view is not obstructed, the vehicle was proceeding in the same direction as the train. As a result of the accident the train was delayed approximately ualf an hovr.