FALL OF EARTH

Evening Star, Issue 19062, 3 October 1925, Page 6

FALL OF EARTH

HEN ENTOMBED IN TUNNEL BESIIDE OPERATIONS PROCEEDING [Per United Press Assooiatton.J CHRISTCHURCH, October 2. Five men were entombed by fi iftu of earth at the outlet end of a. tunnel m the course of excavation work at Lake Coleridge at <1.46 a.m. to-day. Two men. Gordon Archer and Hugh Daly, are known to be alive, and the Fublio Works Engineer has every reason to be hopeful of the safety of the other three, who arc thought to bo Archie Macdonald, Archie Macfarlane, and Richard Green. The men are trapped about oOxt ra from the surge chamber. Communication has been established by a pip® 'driven through. A gang of men is now engaged putting througn a small dnv« to release the mem A later message confirms the name* of the five men. Macdonald is Macfarlane married with two children* Green married with seven children* '■ Daly married, Archer (unknown). J. Shaw and J. Maher, the two othef men on shift when the mishap occurred* were out of the danger zone when the timbering gave way, and tons of earth fell from the roof. At 4.80 p.ra. a conversation took! place with Daly and Archer, and the;/ were supplied with provisions. There is no sign of the other three men. Relay* of men are working, and it is hoped Ixl recover the men to-morrow. [Special to the ‘Stab.’] CHRISTCHURCH, October % Early this morning a correspondent at Lake Coleridge telephoned that there was no warning of the fall. A sudden crack and the rending of timber were heard, followed by the rumble of falling shingle. Tho /all consisted of . two lengths of material, each or ioltt Thiee men (Green, Macdonald, and Macfarlane) are buried under a masß of fallen soil. . . . The two other men (Daly all( l Archer) were about 40ft away when tho xah was caused by water percolating through loose shingle and weakening the timbering until itcould not support the weight. The highest part of the hill is above the spot where the fall occurred. The hill at that point rises 300 ft. . A by-pass tunnel is being driven round a very sharp curve to reach the entombed men. Strenuous efforts are being concentrated on this work. Ail the other tunnelling at the end where the accident occurred is being suspended in the meantime. Seventy-tour feet of the by-pass tunnel have to be out through to get the men out, and 80ft of this was completed by midnight* The hy-pass was started fairly wide, bus rook was encountered, and it had to be narrowed down until it was just large enough to crawl into. The tunnel is not being timbered. The work of driving through was still in progress at midnight.

FEEDiHQ MSOKED BBS PIPE AS COMMUNICATION. NO HOPE FOR THREE OTHERS* A message from Lake Coleridge received at 11 o’clock said that little hop® was held out for the safety of Archibald M‘Donald, Archibald M Harlan®, and Richard Green. It is believed that they were crushed to death when the root of tho tunnel collapsed, Richard Green’s family live in Reefton, and the other two were Christchurch men. Archer and Daly wore spoken to through a tube this morning, and it t# expected to free them late this afternoon. Both are believed not to have been injured. i ... , Later messages say that it will he impossible to got at the bodies of the three first men for two or three days. In the meantime all efforts are being concentrated on the by-path tunnel, which is being pushed forward at tM rate of 4ft or 6ft per hour, which iS a Now Zealand record. A further Sin pipe was put through this morning, and hot saveloys and a bottle of hot soup were immediately pushed through to the imprisoned men. They had been thirty hours without food. .