CRUSHED TO DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 286, 3 December 1925, Page 9

CRUSHED TO DEATH.

THE TUNNEL FATALITY. AN ACCIDENTAL OCCURRENCE. That deceased died as the result of an accidental fall of earth in the Purewa tunnel, was the verdict returned by Mr. J. VV. Poynton, S.M., at the inquest this afternoon into the death of Owen Ward, aged 45, the Public Works' employee,' who was. crushed to death on November 24. The Coroner added that all precautions were taken, and no blame was attachable to anyone. Matthew Butler, tunnel foreman, said that he had known deceased since 1908, and had worked with him. He was an expert at his job. Witness had inspected the place of the accident .on the previous day and there was no sign of danger. Instructions were given for tunnel props

to be erected, and witness saw after the accident that they had been put in. Witness was notified of the accident at 12.55 a.m. on the morning of November 24, and reached the tunnel at 1.10 a.m. Deceased was then being extricated from the earth. Witness thought that about 20 tons had fallen. It smashed the set four feet from the fall. It was impossible to have foreseen that a fall would take place. The cause was a "greasy back," and would result from an accumulation of water. All the workmen in the tunnel wer% experienced.