FUMES FROM PETROL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 21 February 1935, Page 6

FUMES FROM PETROL

PUMPING STATION WRECKED THREE PEOPLE INJURED (By Telegraph—Prem Association) AUCKLAND, This Day. Fumes from petrol which hud found its way into the Freeman’s Bay sewerage system were responsible for two loud explosions in the Auckland and suburban drainage board’s pumping station in Fansliawe street yesterday afternoon. The interior of the station was wrecked, and three members of the staff who were on duty received injuries. One of them, Roderick McLeod, an electrician, who was working in the pumping chamber at the bottom of a manhole forty feet below the floor of the station, had a miraculous escape and it was only his coolness and judgment that saved him from almost certain death. The three men were taken to hospital. It was found that Owen Wilson was badly burned about the head and arms, and his condition is serious. He is a single man, residing at One Tree Hill. F. Wilson, who is married, was suffering from burns about the face and arms, but after treatment was able to return to the pumping station. Roderick McLeod, i married man, is suffering mainly from shock, bis onlv burns being to his hands as a result of grasping an exposed electric wire when climbing out of the shaft. He was able to leave hospital after treatment.