A CLOSE CALL

Hokitika Guardian, 7 September 1931, Page 3

A CLOSE CALL

nv&rn ~ ■ : A, ' ' i\ MOTOR-CAR WRECKED. &>, nifi'-Jfiyi tym ,r±* :>+'*. CROSSING SMASH. -- --M ; %UC&LAND, September' 3. ,i A m’otor-caf Vtossed in the air like a ‘ ’ stravp and the efforts of a' father and ■< mother to save their children were j features of a level crossing collision in Asquith: Avenue, Mount Albert, at o p.m. yesterday. The car was practically wrecked, but the only person who suffered injury was a boy aged eight, who miraculously escaped with a scalp wound, in which five stitches were inserted. The car, owned by C. J. M’Hardy, o: 85, Mount Albert Road, was being driVen toward Mount Albert by M’Hardy. Beside him in the front seat , was Mrs M’Hardy, and in the back seat three Sons,’ aged eleven, eight and six. ', Oh reaching the avenue railway crossU ing, which passes over the road at the I . top Of an incline, the engine stalled, j f The next moment the occupants be- ! , camA aware, ( iof. La . train; approaching j. : , , from the'' cftj. ; ' ■ ■ t• - - r ' ■ :• ■- Mr. and Mrs M’Hardy scrambled from ’ the car and frantically attempted to ‘ drag the childrep after them, They seized one' boy, and he pulled the nearest brother to the, roadway... Then, .. with a violent crash, the train struck the front of the car 'with the third lad ! . inside! The vehicle was lifted into the * air, carried across the i;oad and hurled. ■Ja tb thb side of the permanent way. ■*r r AJU by : the shock rc- of their own close call, Mr and Mrs M'Hardy rushed to the capsized car. To. their ' unbounded relief the boy crafted from the front of the wreckage ?t, crying that his head 'bad been injured.