TWO MEN KILLED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 80, 14 January 1928, Page 2

TWO MEN KILLED

ANOTHER BADLY INJURED. COLLAPSE OF A WALL. (Per Press Association.) CHIUSTCHTJIICH, This Day. Two men were killed and one injured as the result of being buried under a heavy fall of bricks, when a wall collapsed just before mid-day yesterday at the timber yard and workshops of Messrs C. E. Otley and Co. The men, newly taken on for a single job, were in the drying kiln, when the north wall collapsed, the three-inch concrete roof falling in first, and the brick wall following. Those dead are: W. Clark, 108 George Street, New Brighton. C. Nixon, 261 Kilmore Street, Chriatchurch, married. The injured man now in hospital is Mr Albert Johansen, of 91 Nursery Road. Mr Johansen's name is not on the serious list. Thirty men or»more, under Mr C. E. Otley, worked feverishly in an endeavour £o reach the buried men, and they were spurred on by agonising groans from beneath the huge pile of bricks. Men with hack-saws crouched down, cutting through steel rods that impeded their progress. Thirty men heaved on a rope as lioken sections of the wall \v&r& hauled out pLj-j uneui from t»ie wreckage. Two amoulan-.'es, with three stretchers laid out on the ground, were backed in to the seen-} of the accident. Their driver? w>ro lending a hand at the end of a rope. J)r. • Sheffield stood by, ready to render assistance as soon a,s the relief gang could get near the buried men. Tli© first man reached was a labourer, Mr A. Johansen, a married man with a family, who lives at Linwood. Te was close alongside the wall, and fortunately was in something of a pocket, but his right leg was imprisoned and badly smashed. Dr. Sheffield was able to give him morphia injections nearly half an hour before he was extricated, and he was sent direct to the hospital without any examination on the spot. He was suffering severely from shock, had facial injuries, and his right leg was badly crushed. By this time the relief gang had uncovered the arm of another man. Dr. Sheffield gave him morphia, and also spoke to him, but he relapsed into unconsciousness. He was also in something of a pocßret, but immediately over him was a huge section of wall weighing tons. It was rather a ticklish job to get this huge mass away without injuring the man beneath, but extraordinary precautions were taken.

Work of Rescuers. The relief gang were themselves braying the risk of another faH in their endeavours to get at the victims. The middle brick wall, 15 feet high, had been badly scored by the fall of the north wall, and was stayed up with baulks of timber while the work was in progress. At 12.40 the first of the victims wa9 brought out, battered, but conscious, and put in an ambulance. Another effort by the rescuers, and the hand of a second man was seen. A large section of wall was close above him, and the work had to be done with the utmost care. Posts were placed under it, bags of powder and cement arranged to deaden the fall, and the strain was taken on ropes at the top of the section of wall. It fell safely on the skids, and willing hands dragged it clear and up the ropes. A rope was passed round the big obstacle, and this was hitched to a heavy motorlorry. The strain of the lorry further moved the obstacle. The arm of the imprisoned man was showing, and the doctor injected morphia. It was seen that he was alive. He was identified as Mr Nixon, a carpenter. At 1 o'clock exactly the last haul was put on the brick 'slab, and the main obstacle was removed. The man was dead when they got to him. The great slab had crushed his body.

The Third Man.

In between the two gangs a number of men were trying to locate the third man, Mr Clark. Just after 1 he was found in about the centre of the broken wall. He was under tons of brick and stone. Buried even deeper than was Mr Dixon. Mr Clark's was. a hopeless case. Slab after slab of brick and concrete were dragged away. Man power and a motor-lorry alternated on. the ropes. At 1.30 p.m. he was found dead. He was embedded in bricks and debris at the very foot of the wall. Tons of material had crushed him. One Man Got Out In Time.

There were four men in the kiln at the time the roof collapsed, but one man got out iust in time. The roof was about 60ft by 20ft, .and the wall was about 60ft long and 17ft or 18ft high. The concrete of the roof, about three inches thick, collapsed on top of the men, the brick wall, about 16 inches thick, falling in immediately afterwards. ' The Fourth man, Mr Charles Lovett, was working with the gang at the time of the fall. He was near the door, and jumped to safety in the neck of time. He was struck only by splinters, andproceeded to his home without severe infnry. The proprietor, Mr C. B. Otlev, had passed through the kiln about half a minute before. He emerged, turned round the building,. and had not gone ten paces when he heard the crash. Flyinn- pieces of brick struck several of the hands in the yard at the time. None was badly injured. One or two showed bad bruises, and one had a gash under the eye. " Johansen was reported to be getting on satisfactorily last night.