FATAL EXPLOSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 35, 11 February 1935, Page 3

FATAL EXPLOSION.

TWO WORKMEN TRAPPED. BOTH TERRIBLY" INJURED. Ernest Rutland was killed and Edward Hall was critically injured when an explosion occurred in the blast furnace at the works of Australian Iron and Steel, Ltd., at Port Kembla on January 30. The two men had entered the blast furnace, which is a structure more than 100 ft in height and about 30ft in diameter, to examine a charge which had failed to detonate. When the explosion occurred they were trapped inside the hearth of the furnace, and suffered the full force of the blast, which was intensified by being in a confined area. Rutland and Hall, who had been employed by the company for more than 25 years, were in charge of a gang cleaning out the hearth for rcbricking. Molten iron and slag mixed with masonry formed a stiid mass at the bottom of the hearth, and the furnace could not be relined until the waste had been removed with the aid of explosives. Two holes were bored in the furnace about 10 o'clock and explosives were dropped into them. The charges were connected with an electric battel'}' and detonated when the foremen and their men had readied safety. The explosion seemed feeble. Rutland and Hall warned the workmen not to enter the hearth. Then they entered a narrow opening into the great chamber, to see what was amiss. They found that one of the charges had not exploded, and could only be detonated by firing another charge in the same hole. They were carefully picking rubbish out of the hole preparatory to dropping in a second charge when the explosive detonated. Broken bricks, slag and pieces of iron Struck the two men. Rutland and Hall were flung back against the side of the hearth. Both were terribly injured. Their workmates carried them to the hospital at the works. Rutland, who was 49 years of age, died early in the afternoon. Hall will probably lose an eye.