May Have To Bury Victims In Ranges

Chronicle (Levin), 10 December 1948, Page 5

May Have To Bury Victims In Ranges

» NAPlEfi, Bec. 9. The view that the extfettielj- rUgged nattire of the eonntfy in the Ruahines may prrevent the recoyery of the borties of the threev meil kiliecl iii the Gxfof'iair crash i§ held by l~5ergeHftf I'k- W.-. Lc Fort, leadfcr of the fifst pftrty-to f.eaVUi the- seene of the cksh who fias retuftied'to Napier,- * " .''rvv. ' • v-»r He said 'that the journey frotft Thomsen's- Mill'.to Howlett-s Hjit ih-' eltided- a" 2500 fbot elimb pp a bushelad preeipitoiis slope. The men had to use tfee roots and iinibs for foot atid hancl holds lvithout touehing the groiind. Between Howlett's Hut and the scene of the crash there ai'C two roiites, Tlie slloi'ter bnt more dangerons one goes dOWn a 1500-foot gi'ade-throiig'h leatheiwood scrub and snoWgrass to the Oroii-i River and along thd riverbed for a quarter of-a mile with three waterfall* respeetively 60, 30 and 50 feet high to be ne'gotiated, * The waterfalis have sheer faceS atid are covered witli drippirig greeti indss. One siip means a plunge to' death. From the Orotia riverbed to the sceno of the cfasli is Only 100 j-afds, but' this short journey. ffteans aii . ardtiouS wfai k througli heavy sci'tib so thiclc that the feet do not tduch the grotiiid. The longer route meafis a climb of 4500 i'eet ffofn the hiit to tiraha Beak, thg'n along the open i'Ldgetops foir a mile and a htilf and doWn a sheef efiff face 800 feet' detip,- coVei'ed wit.ii leatlierwood and otdafia serub. Unhampered climbers took two hotn'S to iight , their way down thiss800-foot face, The return trip was so stfenuOtiS tliat only the first page of etich docttment in the plane was taken to save Weight, said ]Mr. Le Fol't. - "We made every possible etideaVouv. td bring otif the bodies btit fotiild it was impossible, " he said. "It would be futile and dtingerous to endeavour to bring out the bodies, ' ' said Mr. George Lowe, of Ilastitigs, the leader df . tlie Heretaunga Tlampiflg Club' menibefs jn Atr. Le Fort 's party who ((fescrlbdd jthe tefritoty as extremely diffidult: Ail. flie pafties ate Withdrawn frotii the rafiges ftt the rrroinent. -ittf--- r i ii r i.