DAMAGE TO HOUSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19503, 6 December 1926, Page 10

DAMAGE TO HOUSES.

ROCKS THROUGH ROOFS. NARROW ESCAPE OF CHILD. CLOSE CALL FOR MINERS. [by telegraph.—special reporter.] GRBYMOCJTH, Sunday. When the fourth explosion occurred at Dobson at about nine o'clock on Friday evening four miners, Andrew Alindores, Jack Armstrong, Dave Mcl'vor and Albert Hill, had a narrow escape from death. The men were engaged in resealing the main entrance to the mine., the clay stoppings having been blown out by the previous blast, which occurred during the afternoon. Alindores gave a vivid description of the fourth explosion. "We had been instructed by the manager," he said, " to keep out of the lino of danger as much as we. possibly could, and after finishing the sealing operations on the sides wo had made a start on the front of the tunnel. I heard the mine rumbling, and cried a warning to my mates. There was no other way of escape but to clamber up on to the bank. " When I got on top I helped to pull my mates up, and wo lay stretched on the ground. The explosion forced the roof of the tunnel out, dislodging tons of rock. One huge rock in its descent crashed into the ground between Mclvor and me, missing our bodies by inches." The transmission wires supplying electricity to the mine were smashed, and rocks and stone hurled through the air, causing further serious damage to houses. A stone crashed through the roof of Mr. Roberts' house into a bedroom and landed close to a cot, in which a little child was sleeping. Another large rock penetrated the roof of Mr. Alindores' house, and went through the ceiling of the sitting room. A rock weighing about 1501b was deposited on the road near the hotel, about a quarter of a-milo away. Strange to say, the clay stoppings at the mouth of the mine resisted the force of the explosion. All the remaining windows of the lamp room and bathroom wore shattered. Extra precautions have been taken to safeguard the public from the effects of further explosions. The road leading to the mouth of the mine has been barricaded off, about a chain from the main Grey Road, and patrolmen are guarding both the main entrance and the air drive. Black smoke was issuing from the fan house and air drive yesterday, and the atmosphere was vitiated by fumes from the burning mine. As the result of the dislocation of the electric power lines the work of flooding the mine was considerably delayed. Repairs to the transmission wires were effected. yesterday afternoon by the 3?ower Board's staff. DISCOVERY OF TRAGEDY. RESCUE PARTIES' TRIALS. BEATEN BACK OUT OF MINE. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] GREYMOUTH. Saturday. The story of the disaster was related by Mr. J. Smeaton, president of the Grey Valley Miners' Union, who, with Messrs. Tom Nimmo and W. Chetwynd, have been employed at the mine for the past 2£ years and Have been engaged on shift during the last three months. "We came on on Thursday night at 11 o'clock," said Mr. Smeaton, "getting material into the mine for the endless rope. As near as we can guess about 3 a.m. wb stopped for crib time. "We had been sitting down for about 10 minutes when a terrific explosion occurred, followed a few seconds after by a lighter one. We thought a boiler had blown up, but found that that was not so. We next discovered the mine had gone and immediately sent for the manager and underviewer. Shortly afterwards tho miners living nearby arrived and soon rescue parties went into the mine. Almost at the bottom of the dip we heard men groaning and calling out. "I went in and got right to the winch cabin and found Ashton standing up and groaning. After assisting him on to the stretcher I went in further and found Bob Hunter terribly burned and lying behind the electric winch. Two feet away was John Lindsay in a similar condition. They were not dead but groaning. About 4ft. further away was James Richards, mine deputy. He did not appear to be burned as badly as the others. "These men were then conveyed to the top by means of stretchers. In company with the other rescuers we made a,n attempt to reach the other five men, but found that the mine was. on fire, which made it impossible to reach them. We returned to the surface. "Then, in company with the inspector of mines, Mr. 0. Davis, the superintendent of the State mine, Mr. I. A. James, the manager of the Liverpool mine, Mr. T. King, the superintendent of the Blackball mine, Mr. Parsonage, and a large number of rescuers, we made another attempt to get to the five entombed men. We found several small fires and a large quantity of smoke and were beaten back out of the mine."