A PICNIC TRAGEDY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4948, 8 March 1926, Page 4

A PICNIC TRAGEDY.

BURIED IN A CAVE.

A MAN’S AWFUL DEATH,

A young man wajj crushed to deatn beneath a fall of rock in a cave at Little Ina Beach, near Gurnell, New South Wales.

It took his rescuers three hours to carry him over rocky country to the ambulance.

The victim, Peter Hume Barrie (33), pf Annandale Street, Annandale, was spending the day on the beach with a friend, and at 4.30 p.m. was boiling a can of water near the mouth of a cave at the foot of the cliffs. He went a .Little way into the cave, and had been there only a few minutes, it is stated, when there was a rumble, and, before he ‘ had time to escape, about ten tons of stone crashed upon him from the roof. He was, almoist completely buried, and his companion, unable to tree him, ran for assistance. Two young men hurried to the scene, and for many minutes worked frantically to release Barrie. They found him in a semi-conscious condition. 'He. was in a serious, condition, having been badly crushed. ORDEAL ON THE CLIFF. Ba.rrie suffered a terrible ordeaL The 'cliffs at ,the spot were rather steep, and the. rejseuers were forced to carry him up steep paths, where he was jolted considerably, despite thei-i care. They swathed him in improvised bandages, and with a few bags that they found constructed a crude stretcher. Placing him in it, they set off for La Perouse jetty, a distance of over a mile, across, broken country. A battered Watch in Barrie’s; pocket indicated that the accident happened at 4.30 p.m. The Eastern Suburlxs 1 Ambulance did not pick him up until 7.30 p.m.— three hours afterwards.

The ambulance received the summons at 6.50 p.m., and raced from Co'ogee to La Perouse in eight minutes. ' The ambulance men wtere unable to go nearer to the s,cene offi the accident owing to the roughness of the country. As it was, they received a shaking over rocky roadsi. Barrie was rushed to the Coast Hospital, where life was pronounced extinct by Dr. Malcolm. The man had sustained terrible internal injuries, a punctured wound in th e back, abrasions, all, over the body, and a fractured thigh.