SEVEN LIVES LOST

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 155, 3 July 1922, Page 5

SEVEN LIVES LOST

IN TUNNEL FATALLITY. POISONED GAS FUMES. AT MANGAHAO WORKS. SAD FATE OF RESCUE PARTY. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. A message from the postmaster at Shannon to the Secretary of the General Post Office states that an accident, attended by the loss of seven lives, occurred at Mangahao hydro works about midnight last night.

Two men were working in a tunnel and were overcome by fumes from an oil-engine. Five others went in to rescue them, and all seven were suffocated. The names are as follows:—

F. BIESS. W. BIRSS (late of Arthur's Pass) B. BUTLER. F. GRAHAM. P.' GRAHAM. W. R. MILLER (Engineer). A. E. MAXWELL.

Information received from the Public Works Department regarding the Mangahao accident states that one of the tunnel foremen and one of the tunnel party went into the tunnel at an off time of work to repair the compressor plant. There was one man outside who was ■working the compressor plant, and these were the only three who were at work at that time.

The foreman and the tunneller were bo long in the tunnel that the man working the plant got anxious, and started to go in. He smelt fumes, and went back and gave the alarm. Then the assistant engineer (Mr. W. R. Miller) and four otheTS went into the tunnel, and they were overcome by gas fumes.

There is some difference in the initials and spelling of some of the names. They are published as we received them.

AN AFPAIUKG TRAGEDY.

AT LEAST SIX DEATHS. (By Telefrraph.—Press Association.) PALMERSTON NORTH, this day. An appalling tragedy, involving tho death of at least six men, possibly more, employed by the Public Works Department at Arapeti tunnel, Mangahao hydro electric works, occurred last night shortly after 9 o'clock. Something went wrong with the water pumping apparatus, and at the same time it was noticed that the air fan was not working. The foreman (Mr. A. E. Maxwell) and Mr. Bernard Butler, a pump hand, went into the tunnel to investigate. They did not return within reasonable time, and two more men, who were subsequently followed by others, went to explore the interior workings.

All were overcome with gasoline fumes from a gasoline pumping engine. At the present moment the following are known to be dead: A. E. Maxwell and Butler, F. and W. Burse, S. and T. Graham (tunneTlers), H. Kinsett. Mr. T. Triggs, who was in charge of the air compressor plant, is in hospital, in a serious condition. The fate of W. Miller, another member of the party, is at present unknown. SOME OF THE VICTIMS. {By Telegraph. —Press-Association.) WANGANUI, this day. Mr. A. E. Maxwell, one of the victims of tne Mangahao tunnel accident, was well known in Wanganui. He was a contractor, and had been at Mangahao some twelve months. He was a married man 55 years of age, and has a family. Mr. Miller, another victim, was a brother of the clerk of the court in Wanganui. SCENE OF THE CASUALTY. The power from the Mangahao, which is to supply the southern districts of the North Island, is obtained by diverting the waters of the Mangihao by a tunnel, one mile long from a dam on the river through the hills, first into a large regulating and storage reservoir formed by damming the Tokomaru Creek near the old sawmill, and then, from thia reservoir through a second tunnel, I •mile 26 chains long, out on to the hilla at the back of Shannon. From the end of this second tunnel steel pipes will carry the -water to the powerhouse at the juncture of the Mangaore and Mangatangi crepks, about three miles from Shannon and give a fall of about 900 feet. The main storage will be in the dam on the Tokomaru near the sawmill, which will be directly connected through the tunnel with the other main dam on the Mangahao. Further up the Mangahao will he a second dam not directly connected to the tunnel, which will also store a large quantity of water and which will, in ad* Aon, stop any shingle which is being carried down the river. The greatest portion of the drainage area o! the Mangahao above the proposed intake is in standing bush and mainly forest reserve. The country through which the tunnels are being pierced is clay, slate rock.