REAL DRAMA: MAN RESCUED FROM CLAY BOG

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 June 1950, Page 5

REAL DRAMA: MAN RESCUED FROM CLAY BOG

STOCKHOLM, June 22 (Rec 1 p.m.)—A 30-year-old workman, who had sunk up to his chin in soft clay, was snatched from a horrible death by slow strangulation 'today by a fireman who jerked him out by the hair as he was about to disappear below the surface.

The workman, Per Larsson, Who was trapped at the bottom of a shaft had given up hope. He gasped out to the rescue workers: “Give my love to my family.” As the clay oozed up to Larsson’s neck a 'fireman risked his own life to drag him free. The Hollywood type of drama began in the mid-afternoon when Larsson, a builder, fell into a shaft while working on the foundations of a new house in the town if L’Jusne. Larsson sank to the waist in a treacherous bog at the bottom of the shaft. He yelled but no one heard.

He continued to sink into the ooze. Then his workmates heard his agonised cries. They lowered ropes but Larsson’s hands were .pinned to his side in the narrow shaft.

Up came the heart-rending cry: “I am going under now. Give my love to my family.” A fireman could stand it no longer. “I am going down,” he told the rescue workers. Held by a rope he writhed and twisted his way down the shaft. He groped down and felt Larsson’s hair.

“Pull,” he shouted up to the men manning the winch on top. Larsson groaned: “My leg is caught.” The fireman shouted up: “I’ll hold him here while you dig down.” It took them six hours to free Larsson, but he was eventually brought safely to the top.