Man survives deadly braai

2008-09-08 15:50

Auckland - Two men reportedly from South Africa died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a cabin while on a fishing trip in New Zealand, the New Zealand Herald reported on Monday.

Another South African man is in a serious condition. He survived by apparently falling off a bunk bed and then could breathe through a crack in the cabin door.

The dead were a 35-year-old store manager from Howick and a 50-year-old store purchaser, now living in Hamilton.

Four men and the teenage son of one had booked two small cabins in the Ruapuke Beach Camping Ground, 20km south of Raglan, cooked a meal on the charcoal barbecue and had a few drinks, it was reported.

Three men in one of the cabins planned to go fishing on the Papanui Point rocks at 05.30 and the father and son in the other cabin were to join them later.

'Where is the barbeque?'

The camp caretaker said he was alerted by the teenager who said he was hungry and could not get into the cabin for food.

"I thought, 'Why aren't those guys in there talking?' and then the boy's father said, 'Where is the barbecue?' and then I thought, 'Oh no. They've taken it in with them'," he was quoted as saying.

He drilled a hole to open a window and they found one of them lying on the floor against the door. He said he had passed out and could not move.

The group was having a weekend away while their wives attended a baby shower.

Police said initial indications were that both men died from low oxygen caused by the charcoal-type cooker in an enclosed room.

The third man, who was in a serious condition in hospital, was diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning.

- SAPA