RARANGI ACCIDENT

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 242, 14 October 1942, Page 4

RARANGI ACCIDENT

SOLDIER SERIOUSLY INJURED. STRUCK BY LOOSE ROCK. A serious accident oceurred in the Rarangi area of Cloudy Bay yesterday afternoon, a Blenheim man, Acting-Sergeant-Major Thomas Vincent Gledhill, of Howick road, suffering a compound fracture of the skull and extensive cuts and bruises on the head, body and limbs. His condition is described as very serious. Sergeant-Major Gledhill, with a companion, was on a steep hill-face when a lump of rock above became dislodged by natural means and hurtled down the hillside with growing momentum. The stone struck the unfortunate man on the head, causing him to lose his balance and fall some 30 feet down a steep face of jagged rock. His companion, who had a narrow escape, endeavoured to catch the injured man before he over-balanced, and narrowly missed effecting a save. There was considerable difficulty in getting the injured man out to an ambulance, but a gate was requisitioned and did duty as a stretcher. The injured man was taken to the Wairau Hospital. The stone which caused the accident was probably loosened by the frost of the night before and the expansion due to sun-heat. There - was no one on the hillside above the two men and later examination made it clear that purely natural agencies were responsible for the rock's sudden descent, i