CAR OVER BANK

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21189, 12 August 1940, Page 6

CAR OVER BANK

PASSENGER DROWNED WAINGARO ROAD FATALITY OTHER OCCUPANTS ESCAPE A drowning fatality occurred in the stream on the Waingaro Road last night after a small car containing three persons had run off the road into the stream. The victim was:— MR W. DARBYSHIRE, aged about 50, k miner, of Glen Afton. Mr Darbyshire accompanied Mr and Mrs Lillyan, also of Glen Afton, to the Waingaro Hotel for a swim in the hot baths. Just before midnight they set off in the Lillyans’ 8 horsepower car for home, Mr Darbyshire sitting in the back. The car was a two-door model. It was about a mile from the hotel when the steering wheel failed and the car plunged down a bank into the Waingaro stream, which was swollen owing to the heavy rain. The car was completely inundated. Mr Lillyan, after escaping with difficulty, dived back into the water and rescued his wife. As soon as he saw she was unharmed he went back again and attempted to locate Mr Darbyshire. He had great difficulty in feeling around the back seat from the only door available in the front, but could not locate the passenger. The pair then walked back to the hotel for assistance and a party returned to look for Mr Darbyshire. It was thought he might have floated out of the car, but a lengthy search along the banks was unsuccessful. The police were notified. Great difficulty was experienced in retrieving the car, which had not been brought out of the water early this afternoon. Mr Darbyshir e’s body had not been recovered. The accident occurred on the Hamilton side of Waingaro. Other tragedies of the same type have occurred farther on. The stream, which is low in summer, floods very quickly as the result of heavy rain.