BESCUE WORK AT OHAI

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 121, 18 November 1929, Page 13

BESCUE WORK AT OHAI

FATHER SAVES HIS SON

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

INVEKCAKGILL, lGth November

Considering tho nature of the mining disaster at Ohai on Friday, when three lives were lost, and the difficulty of rescue work, there were many acts that must rank as heroic and many sights that were terrifying and yet extremely pathetic.

The love of a father for his son was courageously typified when an old miner, who had been working in a nearby shaft, rushed into the inferno of smoke and dust in search of his sou, who had been stationed at the bottom of the shaft. Some time later he was seen crawling up the trolley track on his hands and knees with the younger man slung across his shoulders. Such a feat required great strength' and unconquerable power of will. That was one —an outstanding one—of many instances which passed practically unnoticed amidst the turmoil of the rescue work. Many men who were brought to the surface soon after the explosion had- made it practically impossible to live in the main part of the shaft were speechless on account of the effect of gas, yet they did not wait to recover fully before joining the bands of willing rescuers. TERRIBLE PAIN. Burns gave terrible pain out on the open ground, where the injured were uncovered from driving snow and sleet which fell incessantly; and the long truck ride, up to the offices and the ambulance was a torture to the more seriously injured ones. It .is impossible to describe tho obstacles overcome and sights witnessed by the searchers for those who were lost in the depths of the shaft. When found John Chamberlain, whose condition is very serious as a result of extensive burns, was a living torch. His shirt and upper garments were blazing freely, and had the rescuers been a few moments later they would have been too late to save his life. It was remarkable that there was not a greater loss of life than there was. The actual explosion occurred about half-way down the shaft, so that those' who were working right at the end were completely blocked from the head of the mine. They alone realise what it was to feel their way,.carrying and assisting half or totally unconscious comrades along the trolley rails through thick and suffocating fumes. Such an ordeal as the men engaged in tho rescue work went through is one never likely to be forgotten, and deeds so unselfishly performed on behalf of their less ' fortunate fellow-workers showed the miners in their true light. Robert Ross, who was badly burned about the face and hands, had a fortunate escape from more serious and perhaps fatal injuries. He was working alongside Antonio M'Coy, and left his mate to get a drill when the disaster occurred. The full force of the explosion was centred on the spot where Eoss had been working just a moment before, and his mate was killed instantaneously-