BIG EXPLOSION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 125, 3 June 1910, Page 5

BIG EXPLOSION.

OW ACETYLENE GAS

THREE MEN INJURED

[PBESS ASSOCIATION.]

NELSON, June 3. An explosion of acetylene gas in the generator shed at Mr W. R. May's establishment, Richmond, blew out the shed this morning, and injured Mr May, his son, and a man named David HCight, an employee of Mr May. The last-named had' lit a match in the shed when -escaping gas caught alight and an explosion followed. Hight was the most severely injured, asi he was buriedl in the debriß of a portion of the shed. Mr May and his son were.literally blown out of the shed, and it is a marvel that they escaped with only bruises and abrasions, Mr May's beard being nearly burnt off. Only yesterday Mr May's butter factory in the same establishment was burnt down.

. ' # Later. The three victims, though ipainf ully, are not dangerously injured. One of the valves was faulty, so the generator was emptied, and the inside was being examined When a tap was inadvertently turned <on, .causing the explosion. The plant was not and gas is ,^till:being used.