LUCKY TO BE ALIVE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 40, 3 March 1937, Page 7

LUCKY TO BE ALIVE

■Pr'ess Asim.--Copyr!Bht.)

Air-Crash Victims Were on Verge of Death RESCUER'S STORY

(By Telegraph-

BRISBANE, March 2. : Mr. J. H. Waldron, a resident of, Lamington, who was a member of the; resctte party of 15 led by; Mr* Bernard "O'Beilly, has returned from the seene of the 'plane crash. He said it took ' eight hour's to cover the twelve miles to the " Lost World Plateau," where" the Stinson wreck lies. He returned in sevea and a-half hours. It was the most gruelling ttek he had ever expen-. onced, rain and ffiist seriously hampering the gangs working Qn the mountainside etttting a track. "When we arrived Mr. BinstOad was sitting beside the ruins of the 'plane among the tree roots and Mr. Proud Was lying down. Although weatherbeaten and ill they were ablo to greet us with a cheerfbl smile and heartily shook hands with us. It was the tens- ■ est moment of my life and probably theirs. "I saids 'You are pretty lucky to be alivel' 'We certainly are lucky," answOred Mr. PrOud in a weak, faiaway voice, 'and we afe mighty giad to see you.' "Mr. Proud then asked about the Test cricket score, 'How did Bradman goi' We had all the right kind of ini'ormation for them." 1 Both rnen, according to Mr. O'Beilly, had improved as the result of the sand-. wiches he. gave them on Sunday. Bothwere without coats and their trousera were shorts. The wet ground about them was water logged and slippery and so steep it was difficult to maintain a foothold. Mr. Proud 's leg was broken! , between the ankle and the knee and , the bone was protruding. Mr. Waldron told ho),v he managed to render assistance. "We shifted the pair about a hundred yards away where they were more comfortable and Dr. Lawldr itamediately began dressing Mr. Proud 's wounds. The doetor expects to save the leg and he thinks he will pull through. ' '

Mr. Waldron said that tne 'piane wreckage was too tragie a»spectacle to gaze upon lengthily. The f olir victims, not completely incinerated, were lying . in the ruins makiug a gruesome, haunt- j ing sight for the lone survivorS, theni j selves on the verge of death.