THRILLING EXPERIENCE AT OTIRA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 807, 3 May 1910, Page 6

THRILLING EXPERIENCE AT OTIRA.

SEVERAL INJURED. NARROW ESCAPE OF RESCUE PARTY. TWO MEN STILL WALLED IN.

IBy MeETUBIi.-SDeelal CtoesDondent.) Bealey, May 2. A serious accident occurred at the Otira tunnel about < half-past eight this morning, when, without any warning, a sill under which the day shift were working collapsed, engulfing, in all, eight men. A rescue 'party hurried to the scene, and at once set to work. They found that one man, named James Shaw, who stood near a prop of timber, had one of his legs badly fractured. This happened while he was being dragged by a comrade through tho falling nibble. No sooner had he been pulled away than the prop collapsed. His life was saved, but he had a very narrow escape. A man named Claude Bray waa rescued by George Pitts, who returned to the scene of the accident, only to be engulfed himself. : J. MTCeich, the tunnel foreman, escaped from the tunnel, but on going to the rescue he received severe bruises on the head and face, and also had his ankle fractured. The rescuers were only in some ten minutes when a second fall occurred, even bigger than the first. They made a rush for freedom, and all of them most miraculously escaped, except George Pitts, who had returned. Some of them irere, at the time, in tho very act of rescuing those engulfed by the first fall, and had they been given five more minutes three men wonld at once have been saved. The deadly hail of rock and rnbWe forced the rescuers to make their way out. FIVE MEN BURIED. At 9 o'clock thoro remained buried in the tunnel the following five meni— JAMES DOYLE. T DTJGGAN. A. BEARD. C. BEAMER. G. PITTS. Of 'the fate of Doyle and Duggan there was no exact knowledge, but the other three men were known to be near a truck which might possibly save their lives. The rescuing party worked with tremendous energy to help their mates. They could hear the voices of the three men near the truck, and had even rignailed by means of rapping the air-pipo to at least one of tho other men, who seem to have escaped immediate death by rushing further down the tunnel. M'Keich and Shaw were conveyed by special conveyance to Cass, there to bo met by a train from Broken Error, in order that they might be convoyed to Christchurch Hospital. A doctor and nurse wero sent for from Groymouth, and they arrived by special train and conveyance at four pjru, and have been tending tbe injured ever since their arrival. WONDERFUL ESCAPES. Thero were many wonderful escapes from death by those within the. tunnel when the second fall occurred. Many received b'ruises and cuts, but made light of them. .. . Mr. J. Mahoney reoeived an injury to his back, but is getting on well. The rescuers have had very.great difficulty in reaching their mates owing to the bad' stato of the fallen earth, rock, and timber, and tho very precarious position of tho entrapped inen. Somo tn-o or three lengths of timbering are down; and the gravel fall has run right up to the surface outside. Tho position of the eoUapso is about two chains in, where the tunnel is about thirty feet from the surface. Although tho men, Pitts, Beamer, and Beard, were- able to be communicated with from 10 a.m.,, and even given nourishment, they were in such a bad position that it was particularly dangerous to move anything near them for fear of a further collapse of rock and narth. The truck eared their lives. THREE RESCUED. ,It was some fifteen feet under the fallen debris, but the rescuers tunnelled along the side of the big tunnel, and so reached the truck at fouT pjn. Baird was then rescued, and Pitts was reached at five p.m., but it was not till 9.30 that Beamer could bo rescued. The positions in which these mon lay all day baffles description. _Ono can imagine what must have been their feelings. It seemed impossible for them to have been brought out alive. There is difficulty in ascertaining the exact injuries to tho mon, though it seems at present.that they are not seriously injuTed in any way. [ TWO MEN STILL BURIED. All day long, by means of striking tho air-pipe, communication has been made with someone within the tunnel. Whether Doyle or Duggan, or both, ia there it is impossible to say. There are two rescue parties at work now endeavouring to reach theso men. A drive ia being made from above the Bealey River m some thirty feet to tap the tunnel above the fall, whilst the smaller tunnel will be continued through the debris. Bealey, May 2 (10 pjn.) News has jnst been received that both men are safe, and are boing spoken to by the rescuers.