MINER’S LIFE FOR COMRADES

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 October 1932, Page 4

MINER’S LIFE FOR COMRADES

OVERCOME BY GAS

BRISTOL, August 24. Jack Emery, a fireman, employed at Speedwell Colliery, East Bristol, lost his life to-day in an attempt to rescue two companions, Isaac Kendall, and Frank Plummer, who were overcome by a sudden rush, of gas half a mile under the earth and over a mile from the pit-shaft. Emery missed his two mates, and on investigation found them overcome by gas in an old working. He picked up Kendall unconscious and carried him several yards to safety. He then started back to look for Plummer, but when he reached the gas-laden area again he collapsed and was later found dead. Kendall, after having been missing for about ten hours, was discovered by the rescue party, and on being taken to the surface he revived. Plummer, however, could not be reached owing to a fall of rock. Tho rescue party, equipped with special gas masks, could hear him breathing and for another three and a-ha If hours they hacked their way through the fall until they finally succeeded in reaching him, and he was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

Emory, whose home is at Fishponds, is a married man with three children'.