Buried For Two Hours

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31225, 24 November 1966, Page 1

Buried For Two Hours

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, November 23. Rescuers toiled for more than two hours today to free one of two men trapped by tons of clay in a deep trench at Howick.

As the rescuers, mainly volunteer firemen, worked with spades, buckets and hands to clear away the clay, more earth began to fall.

One of the trapped men, Felix Stubeli, aged 30, a drainage contractor, married, with two children, of 58 Panama road, suffered minor injuries and shock. The other, James Treleaven, aged 23, of 78 Beach road, Howick, suffered minor injuries. Both men were taken to Middlemore Hospital, where they were treated and discharged. As he lay hidden in the trench, Mr Stubeli could be heard calling: “Please give me air” and “My back.”

The cave-in occurred shortly before 1.30 p.m. in a trench being dug for a sewer in Bleakhouse road. Before being taken away in an ambulance, Mr Treleaven said: “We were just timbering when the trench caved in. There were two of us. We would have been 18 feet down. “A driver and another man saw the fall coming and they yelled out. We tried to jump up the timber. “The clay completely covered us. Mr Stubeli was two feet directly beneath me.” Mr Treleaven said the pressure of the clay was terrific. He could not move a muscle. “We were talking all the time. The clay covering me was about two feet over my head. I cannot remember much more,” Mr Treleaven said. “It took them about half an hour to free me.”

Terry Henry, of Atkinson avenue, Otahuhu, who was on top of the trench said he had been, watching for cracks. Then the mass of earth caved in. He shouted a warning.

Rangi Barton began using a trench-digger to clear the clay away.

Under Mr Henry’s directions, Mr Barton guided his machine’s huge claw to within about four inches of Mr Treveaven’s head. Mr Barton then ran over to a house near by and telephoned the Howick Volunteer Fire Brigade and the ambulance.

He then returned to help Mr Henry. Mr Barton said: “We could hear Mr Treleaven under the clay. Our arms were aching He kept talking to us all the time.” Nine firemen arrived with oxygen gear. An oxygen pipe was passed through a small hole in the clay to a cavity in which Mr Stubeli’s head rested. With spades and their hands, the firemen had Mr Treleaven free in about three-quarters of an hour. Extra boarding was propped against the trench walls as they got closer to Mr Stubeli. His head and shoulders were free when more earth began to fall from the trench top. The atmosphere was tense as more timber was quickly placed under over-hanging clay. A rope was tied round the waist of one fireman, who was then lowered under planks

erected to protect Mr Stubeli. He cleared away the remaining clay clinging to Mr Stubeli and the injured man was lifted clear and taken to an ambulance about 130 minutes after his ordeal began. Mr Stubeli and his employees were digging the trench for the Manukau City Council.

Mr W. J. Bale-mi, plant supervisor from John Yelavich, Ltd., the firm which

owns the mechanical digger, said work on the job had been stopped last week because of slips. The men began work again this morning.

Asian Bank. —The Asian Development Bank will be formally launched at a three-day inaugural meeting opening in Tokyo tomorrow—the first regional bank created for the economic development of Asia and the Far East. — Tokyo, November 23.