The Press THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1970. Hope And Concern In The Kaimais

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32232, 26 February 1970, Page 10

The Press THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1970. Hope And Concern In The Kaimais

Last night there was good reason to hope for the rescue of at least seven men from the collapsed shaft of the Kaimai tunnel. One man was known to be dead; the fate of three others remained uncertain. Their families and friends, and the public generally, could do no more than hope and pray that the bafflingly difficult rescue operations would succeed. For those anxiously following the drama of the rescue work—the struggle of men and their machines against a great and dangerous obstacle—the news of survivors rewarded hope and relieved the weight of the disaster. Disasters involving many people, great effort and risk, in mines, at sea, in the mountains, or wherever the odds against survival are high and the victims themselves are virtually helpless, always stir a keener awareness of the value of human life and of the dependence of one human being on another. This awareness casts a sad reflection on everyday life, in which people often show much less concern for the safety of themselves and others. In this country alone many hundreds are killed and many thousands are injured in accidents every year: and most of these could be avoided by ordinary care and foresight. The Kaimai tunnel accident does not come in this class of mishap, though its causes will undoubtedly be thoroughly investigated, and, it is to be hoped, its lessons learned. The first inquiry from the men found underground yesterday was about the safety of their fellowworkers. When tragedy strikes, confidence in the utmost efforts of others is always strong among men engaged in this kind of work. That this confidence is well founded is plain both in the unflagging work of the rescuers in the Kaimai mountains and in the concern of the men underground for their fellows.