Milford avalanche kills ’dozer driver

Press, 24 September 1983, Page 1

Milford avalanche kills ’dozer driver

PA Invercargill A Ministry of Works and Development overseer, Mr Robert “Pop” Andrew, of Te Anau, was presumed dead after an avalanche forced a bulldozer over on top of him about a kilometre west of

the Homer Tunnel on the Milford-Te Anau Road yesterday. Snow, rain, winds, and electrical storms were battering the area when the accident happened in the afternoon, while workmen were clearing avalanches which had fallen on the notoriously avalanche-prone area earlier this week. The Ministry of Works

and Development resident engineer in Invercargill, Mr Koy Baines, said last evening that a bulldozer was trying to free another one which had become stuck in avalanche debris when the tragedy happened.

Mr Andrew was connecting a strop to the bulldozer when he heard the avalanche coming. He took cover beside the stuck bulldozer, which the avalanche pushed over on top of him. Mr Wayne Curran, a Te Anau contractor, the driver of the other bulldozer, lay in the cab of his machine when he heard the avalanche

coming and went to Mr Andrew’s rescue after it was over.

Mr Baines said that the distressed driver tried to dig Mr Andrew out, but he was trapped under the bulldozer, which was more than half submerged in snow.

Senior-Sergeant Paul Brown, of Invercargill, said last evening that the Invercargill police were notified by the Te Anau police at 3.02 p.m. that there had been an avalanche on the Milford side of the Homer Tunnel and that it was believed people and vehicles had been caught in it. Mr Curran had walked through the tunnel and driven a vehicle to Cascade Creek, 75km away, to notify the police. In the > meantime, the three other men in the roadclearing party were walking to Milford 12km away and Mr Curran was worried about their safety. Soon after they started off, there was another avalanche.

However, a vehicle had been sent from Milford to find them and that picked them up. Mr Brown said the police were satisfied that everyone except Mr Andrew got safely from the area, “although we cannot discount entirely the possibility that there might be other motorists stranded somewhere.”