TUNNEL EXPLOSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 246, 18 October 1927, Page 10

TUNNEL EXPLOSION.

THREE MEN INJURED.

ONE IN SERIOUS CONDITION.

STRUCK BY FLYING ROCK.

MISHAr AT MORNINGSIDE.

-in explosion of gelignite in a tunnel on the Mount Albert Borough Council's rlrainage works nt tne Morningside reserve this morning resulted in injuries to threo married men. They were:

Mr. G. McMahon, Shaw Street, Eden dale.

Mr. A. Watts, Oxton Road, Edendale.

Mr. H. Jackson, 210, Balmoral Road

McMahon and Watts were taken to the Auckland Hospital, the condition of tlio former being serious.

At the time when the accident occurred McMahon was working a popper •hill on a face of rock about 25 feet in a tunnel, which is reached from a verti fal shaft fifteen feet in depth. When tlio explosion occurred rock debris was hurled in every direction. Evidently McMahon got the full force of the explosion, Jackson, who was next behind him was struck on the face and in the hack, and Watts, who was third in line received head injuries. Jackson struggled along to help McMahon, who was iy, n? m a heap wnilfJ Watta gl . opC(] his way back to the shaft, climbed the ladder, and gave the alarm.

About fifty yards away was Mr J Bonnar, foreman of the drainage works find another group of men. They immediately made their way into the tunnel and assisted Watts and McMahon. the latter Being carried out. He was conscious but could not speak. Mr. A Gliff, foreman for the Mount Albert Borough Council, at once sought medical help, and Drs. Pettit and Fullerton both quickly reached the scene.

The explosion is believed to have been due to a plug of gelignite. The country where the drainage works are being carried out is of a rocky nature, with occasional layers of clay. It is thought that when a hoTe was previously drilled a plug of gelignite had slipped down into the clay, and that this morning it was struck when a hole was being bored from a different angle. The confined space made the explosion much more severe than it would otherwise have been. One of the men on the job said this morning that he had been working for seventeen years on tunnelling work about the city and suburbs, and that it was the first accident of the kind that he had known. He added that the chance was always "on," but that it was very rare. It is also the first accident that has occurred in connection with the Mount Albert drainage works. All were experienced men at the work, and familiar with the handling of explosives.

On being informed of the accident the Mayor of Mount Albert (Mr. L. Rhodes) and several members of the borough council visited the tunnel.