FATAL INJURIES

Taranaki Daily News, 16 September 1940, Page 6

FATAL INJURIES

CLIMBER HfT BY ROCK MOUNT EGMONT TRAGEDY MANGANUI GORGE TRACK Apparently struck by a piece of falling rock as he walked through the Manganui Gorge on Mount Egmont yesterday afternoon, Oswald Joseph Riley, aged 25 years, son of Mr. O. W. A. Riley, Ariel Street, Stratford, received severe head injuries from which he died about two hours later in the Stratford hospital. Mr. Riley was the last member of a party of four, none of whom saw a piece of rock fall or strike him but heard a dull thud. The accident occurred in the northern entrance to the gorge about 2.30 p.m. The party, which arrived at the mountain early in the afternoon walked from the plateau via the gorge to the Manganui hut and set out on the return journey about 2.20 p.m. They were Mr. Stanley W. Dick, Miss E. M. Burns, Miss Zena Mollgaard and Mr. Riley and were walking in that order, each being separated by a distance of six to eight feet. Seen Lying off Track. Just after passing the wire rope the party was rounding an out-jutting rock when the three in front heard a dull thud. Looking back they saw Mr. Riley lying just off the beaten track with his head pointing in the directibn of the gorge. Mr. Riley made no sound and was found to be unconscious when an examination was made by his companions. Misses Moolgaard and Burns immediately left on a return to the hut to get' fiyst-aid equipment. En route they met nme men and together they collected the outfit and rushed back to the scene of the accident. Miss Burns, who is a member of the Hawera hospital nursing staff, dressed Mr. Riley's head. Miss Mollga~.rd travelled the rest of the gorge track and the plateau where she was taken in a car to the Stratford mountain house. She gave the alarm and the hostess at the house, Mrs. W. Hennessey, immediately rang Stratford for medical assistance and arrangements were made to despatch the hospital ambulance. A party was rapidly summoned at the hostel bunkhouse and left with a stretcher in a car driven hy Mr. N. J. Robson for the plateau. Meanv/hile others had gathered at the scene of the accident and a stretcher improvised from materials obtained at the Manganui hut was pressed into service. The injured man was carried to within a short distance of the southern exit to the gorge. There the stretcher-bearers were met hy the party from the bunkhouse and the improvised stretcher was placed on the one brought from the house and Mr. Riley was carried and carefully laid in Mr. Robson's waiting car. He was driving to the house when the car's arrival coincided with the arrival of the ambu'ance, the injured man being rushed to the Stratford hospital. He was admitted shortly after 4 p.m., his death occurring less than an hour later. It is stated that when the party went through the gorge on its upward trip two pieces of rock were seen to fall. An inquest will be held at Stratford this afternoon.