TEN MEN CRUSHED WHEN HUT TRUCK LEAPS INTO CREEK.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 May 1930, Page 8

TEN MEN CRUSHED WHEN HUT TRUCK LEAPS INTO CREEK.

DOCTOR RUSHES TO SCENE BY AEROPLANE

BLENHEIM, May 25,

The advantage of the aeroplane in case of sudden emergency was well illustrated on Saturday afternoon when ten men wore injured on the South Main Trunk railway works at Tirahanga, 45 miles from Blenheim. On receipt of the summons by telephone, Dr. J. F. Bennett arranged for the sendees of one of the Marlborough Aero Club’s Moths, and by this means was on the scene of the accident and attending to the injured within an hour of the occurrence and loss than half an hour after leaving Blenheim. The injured men arc: Robert J. Wallace, aged about 45, married with four or five children, crushed chest and fractured skull. Condition reported grave. Wallace was employed on Murray’s Woodside station until about two months ago when he secured work with the Public Works Department.

Thomas King, aged about 65, believ cd to be single with relatives in Shan non; lacerated back and strain, condi tion serious, /

J. Mills, married, no children, torn sinews of left leg and other injuries. Mason, s single, ruptured muscles of back, lacerated wound in the left hand. Roy Gifford, married, broken jaw and nose and other lesser injuries.

A. Duncan, severe crushing of left foot. '

A Petersen, broken nose, wound in head.

R. Neilson, scalp wound, strained back. \

C. Boss, minor injuries. Maurice Hickey, injuries to face. The ten men were part of a gang which had been engaged in platelaying between Tirohanga and Tainui. When the knock off whistle blew at midday on Saturday they entered a railway truck on which a hut had been erected and which was always used for conveying the men from their camps to the scene of their labours.

A small engine was hitched on. and set,off in the direction of Wharanui where the men’s camps were located. All went well until Tirohanga was reached, but here the truck left the rails just as a bridge was reached. It turned completely upside down and. with the ten men trapped inside it crashed into the creek bed 14 feel or so below.

The hut, which was flimsily built of corrugated iron, collapsed when it struck the ground, and the horrified engine driver and firemen, who at once pulled up when the truck parted company with the engine, hurried back to the scene.

They thought all -were dead as there was no sound from the wreckage and it seemed impossible that anyone could live under the weight of the inverted truck.

Moans , and cries, soon rent the air and with the assistance 'of another gang who were returning to Wharanui by road the ■ victims ’ wfVe extricated from the wreckage with considerable difficulty. Meantime a messenger was sent to aTirohanga homestead which was close handy, and Mrs A. Kittson Thomas after telephoning to Blenheim, for a doctor repaired with Miss yMdworth, of Wellington,’ to the score where they rendered yeoman service in tending the injured and earned the admiration of all the men.

The least injured were despatched to Wharanui by motor truck and the others remained on the scene until the arrival of Dr. Bennett.

Captain Chandler who fle.w the aeroplane, landed on an excellent ground at Tirohanga which had recently been adopted as one of the Aero ■’’Club’s stations for short cross-country flights. Here a car was waiting to convey the doctor to the scene of the accident about a mile distant.

Wallace and King were conveyed to the Marlborough hospital in an ambulance and their condition was reported as satisfactory late this afternoon. The others are still at Wharanui but will probably bo sent to Blenheim on Monday,