TWO GIRLS DROWNED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 January 1940, Page 6

TWO GIRLS DROWNED

TRAGEDY AT POUNAWEA BOAT OVERTURNS IN SUDDEN ' SQUALL.! FOUR OTHER OCCUPANTS REACH SHORE. — (By Telegraph —Press Asociation.) DUNEDIN. January 10. Two little girls lost their lives in a drowning accident at Pounawea at about 10.30 this morning. They were Joan Mary McQuillan, nged 4, and Margaret Rose McQuillan, aged 7. Both lived at Brown Street, Gore. The tragedy occurred when a boat in which Mrs McQuillan and her two children with others was being rowed across the river, capsized in a squall. Mrs McQuillan and three other occupants of the boat reached shore with some difficulty, and Mrs McQuillan has been admitted to the hospital suffering from shock. Messrs H. Gow and J. Simmers and his young son, of Waikoikoi, were rowing out in a small boat to lift a set net when they were called from the shore opposite the jetty to take Mrs McQuillan and her two children across the river. The party were just about 100 yards out from the bank when a sudden squall swept down and a large wave swamped the boat. ■Simmers, with his son hanging on to his coat, managed to swim ashore, and Gow kept hold of the boat and held up the two little girls for a while, but the boat overturned and he lost them. He again grasped the boat and managed ot support Mrs McQuillan for a time. The boat again rolled, and he lost hold of Mrs McQuillan, but by this time help was approaching from the other shore, and he and Mrs McQuillan were rescued. In the meantime the two little children had'disappeared. Dragging operations were carried out. and the body of the younger child was recovered this evening.