LOST ON RUAPEHU.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 553, 26 March 1913, Page 5

LOST ON RUAPEHU.

TRAGEDY FEARED

[UY TELKGHAPII. —I'BKSS ASSOCIATION.] Wellington, This Day.

! A great sensation was caused in Ohakune by the Jobs of four members of a party which set out on Saturday last to ascend Mt. Ruapehu. The party numbered six, and included Miss Goetch, Messrs Sherbert and Watera, of Auckland, and Bingham, of Ohakune. Two other residents of Ohakune, Mclntrye and Willoughby, were with them, but managed to get out of the snow and returned to the township in an exhausted condition. Later. The party have not all returned yet. Bingham, aged 21, has not yet been found. Waters and Willoughby turned up at Waimarino yesterday, badly knocked about and suffering from hunger, fatigue and exposure. They left Miss Goetch and Bingham on Monday afternoon, Bingham being exhausted and unable to proceed further. Miss Goetch decided to stay with him.

Miss Goetch was found later under the Makatote viaduct, having wandered forty miles. She was in a bad state suffering from shock, hunger and exposure. She suffered also from wounds on her legs and hands. She is in a delirous state, and says she saw Bingham go over a waterfall on Monday afternoon and later that she saw his hat and coat in the stream. Her condition as the result of suffering is such that this version is not fully credited. Search parties are out looking for Bingham,, who is a chemist in the employ of Mr A. Doig, of Wanganui. His mother is a widow residing in Dannevirke.