FATALITY ON LAKE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 47, 24 January 1938, Page 9

FATALITY ON LAKE

THROWN FROM SPEEDBOAT. TRAGEDY AT ROTORUA.. Per Press Association. ROTORUA, Jan. 23. Thrown out of an outboard motor speed-boat while it was speeding at lull throttle across Lake Rotorua shortly after 7 o’clock on Saturday evening, Charles Walter Day, aged 30, a mail contractor and operator of a parcel delivery service, was drowned about 300 yards off the shore at Kawaha Point. The occurrence was witnessed by Mr and Mrs H. G. Gribble, of Rotorua, who were camping at Kawaha Point. Alter the man was thrown out of the boat it continued to encircle the spot at full speed. Mr and Mrs Gribble immediately manned a row-boat and pulled out to the scene. Meanwhile, a native, Hini Manahi, who had observed the unoccupied boat encircling the scene from about halt a mile away, also set out in' an outboard motorboat.

Robert Rika, who was going downhill to the lake for a swim, realising that something untoward had occurred, jumped into the water and swam out to the spot, whero he commenced diving in an effort to find the body. Rika a few minutes later saw it lying on the lake bed in about nine feet of water. He dived down and brought it to the surface. The body was hoisted to Hini Manahi’s boat and taken to the shore, but attempts at resuscitation were unavailing. BEACH FATALITY. YOUNG BOY’S DEATH. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Jan. 23. Drowned in three feet of water, a six-year-old boy lost his life at Blockhouse Bay at a time when there was a large number of bathers in the water this afternoon. The victim was Donald Ambrose, son of Mr Gustav Ambrose, of Eden Terrace. The hoy was found floating face down about 50 yards from shore. The tide was full at 3 o’clock, but although it was falling when the boy was in the water there was very little current. Mr and Mrs Ambrose were on shore at the time, and there were numbers of bathers in the bay. The boy was seen about five minutes before he was found, but as far as is known nobody saw him get into difficulties.

YACHTSMAN DROWNED. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Jan. 23. A yachtsman lost his life near Opua this afternoon when the 22-foot mullet boat Doreen capsized and sank off Gillet’s Point, dragging its dinghy down after it. The victim was Mervyn Dickinson, aged 24, of Opua. Deceased was employed in the Opua store.