WALL FALLS ON MEN

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28415, 23 October 1957, Page 12

WALL FALLS ON MEN

One Killed, Another Injured (New Zealand Press Association) ROTORUA. Oct. 22. A youth was killed and a man seriously injured when a wall which was being shifted at the joinery factory of B. R. Quinlan. Wairoa road, Rotorua, collapsed on them this morning. The youth was: Robin Henderson, aged 17. a joiner, son of Mr J. Henderson, of Hood street, Ngongotaha. The injured man is Brian Roy Quinlan, aged 37, proprietor of the factory. He was admitted to the Rotorua Public Hospital, suffering from shock. Several fractures of the ribs are suspected. The two were members of a party which was moving the wall back about 40ft. The job was part of alterations and additions to the factory. The wall, which was covered with plaster and was of a considerable weight, was being raised when a link in the winch chain broke. The workmen had no time to scramble clear. Mr Henderson was caught between the wall and the floor joists of the extension. Mr Quinlan, although partly clear, was caught and crushed against the floor Two other men working on the job had amazing escapes. Mr Don Ahipene escaped with cuts to the nose and arm. and Mr Gordon William Wallison had the luckiest escape of all. A window space in the collapsing wall framed him, leaving him unscathed.