MT. HOMER TUNNEL

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 104, 4 May 1937, Page 12

MT. HOMER TUNNEL

FALL OF AVALANCHE

TWO OFFICIALS DEAD

THREE MEN INJURED

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

INVERCARGILL, This Day

The Lumsden police received word shortly before noon that an avalanche came down over the mouth of the Homer tunnel on the Milford Sound highway at 9.50 this morning, as the result of which the engineer-in-charge, D. F. Hulse, formerly at Waitaki, and the overseer in charge of.the tunnel operations, T. W. Smith, were killed. • Three other men were seriously injured. They are J. S. Lloyd, J. Milne, and L. S. Kelly. It is snowing heavily and there are thirteen inches of snow in the valley. No warning of the disaster was possible. A doctor is proceeding to the scene of the trrjedy, as also are the police. The bodies of the men killed were recovered and arrangements are being made to bring the injured to hospital at Invercargill. The scene of the tragedy is the same as on the previous occasion when an avalanche killed one man and injured

seven. Mr. Hulse had been in the service of the Public Works Department since February, 1918. Born in March, 1902, and trained in the Department, he had previously been engaged in irrigation and railway construction works, working on the Lauder irrigation scheme and on the East Coast railway at Kotemaori. He had been engaged at the Homer Tunnel since August, 1936, when he took over from Mr. Christie. The late.Mr.' Hulse was considered a very able man, a good organiser,' with the knack of handling men. He was married. Mr. Smith was born in 1884, and was also married. He had been engaged on the tunnel since July, 1935.