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Thursday, April 17, 2014
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Elderly man, dog attacked in Ashburton
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An odd day at Borough School Odd stuff? Ashburton Borough pupils arrived yesterday with odd footwear to raise money for the floodstricken Solomon Islands. FULL STORY P5
Miracle escape from gorge BY ERIN TASKER
ERIN.T@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Searchers couldn’t believe their eyes when a woman who had been swept away in Woolshed Creek, in the Mid Canterbury high country, late yesterday afternoon, walked out alive. Rakaia Police Senior Constable Mike Jackson said it was a
miracle the 30-year-old German tourist made it out and searchers were stunned when she walked into the Woolshed Creek carpark at 7.45pm – nearly four hours after the alarm was raised. “We are amazed. We thought we would be doing a recovery, not a rescue,” Mr Jackson said. He said it was believed the
woman was walking with her husband on the track near the Woolshed Creek hut yesterday when she slipped into the creek and was washed away. Just how she managed to get out alive and find her way to the carpark was unknown last night. The alarm was raised by mountain radio from the
Woolshed Creek hut shortly after 4pm and police, search and rescue and the alpine search and rescue teams were deployed. A helicopter located some items, including what was believed to have been a pack. Searchers were expecting the worst. The woman was to be checked out by medical person-
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nel last night, although early indications were she did not have serious injuries. “She had definitely been swept into a narrow gorge which is known as the Impassable Gorge area,” Mr Jackson said. “The best we can tell at this stage is that she has ended up 2-3km along the Woolshed Creek.”
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