TWO MEN KILLED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 156, 3 June 1937, Page 11

TWO MEN KILLED.

BURIED IN GRAVEL PIT. ' SLIP WHEN OTHERS ABSENT. > Per Press Association. WHAKATANE, June 2. A tragedy occurred at the M a tat a gravel pit, 17 miles from Whakatane, shortly before noon to-day, in which two men lost their lives as the result of being buried in a slip. They were: MR lAN LEES, aged 45 years, county employee, single. MR E. L. MASON, aged 30 years, relief worker, married with four children. t-After the 10 a.ill. smoko, a number of the men in the pit ascended the hill to engage in stripping, while Messrs Lees and Mason remained in the pit to load the truck. When the men descended to the pit at lunch time they discovered the slip, but there was no sign of their mates. They immediately communicated the fact to the township and the county office, and 20 men, working in the limited space, unearthed the bodies at about 2 p.m. Mr Mason’s neck was broken and Mr Lees died from suffocation. An inquest will be'held to-morrow.