BOY RESCUED FROM STRONGROOM

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30479, 29 June 1964, Page 1

BOY RESCUED FROM STRONGROOM

(New Zealand Press Association)

PALMERSTON N., June 28. A 14-year-old schoolboy, George Jennings, was trapped in the disused strongroom of a demolished bank building late this afternoon and it took police • more than half-an-hour to make a rescue.

With two companions the youth entered the old Bank Of New Zealand building on the corner of the Square and Rangitikei street which is being reconstructed. The building is only a shell as work on the interior after demolition has not yet started. The trio climbed the stairs to the top floor where George Jennings entered an empty strongroom. The door shut but the handle broke off. The boy’s friends were unable to open it and the police were called.

It took Sergeant V. J. Kurta. and Constable R. LeighMacKenzie more than half-an-hour to rescue him. With the aid of a pipe wrench, the police were able to unlock the strongroom door, but it remained jammed. A crowbar was used to prise the door open and little by little it yielded to their combined efforts. The boy was dazed and worried when he was let out but was otherwise unharmed.