PLUNGE DOWN LIFT WELL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20520, 22 March 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

PLUNGE DOWN LIFT WELL.

SIX MEN FALL 80 FEET. -. ONLY ONE LOSES LIFE, ■ Shut inside the cage of a hydraulic hoist when it broke loose, six factory employees at Glasgow were hurled from the seventh floor of a. building to the basement, a distance of 80 feet. The following casualties occurred amid the splintered wreckage:—Killed, Daniel Gordon; injured, James Smith, John Watson, Alexander Stark, William McDonald and William Handyside. The accident occurred in the preserved provision factory of Messrs. R. D. Waddell at Napiers Hall Street, in the northern district of Glasgow. Apparently no one actually saw the mishap, which occurred while the lift was descending from the top storey.

According to an official report, the hoist, in which was about lOcwt. of bone meal, was being lowered by John Watson, attendant, when it jammed at the fifth floor. Before it restarted five other employees got into it. Then with startling suddenness the cage broke from its supports and began a dizzy descent of the shaft. It landed with a fearful crash on the basement floor.

An employee who aided in rescue work said,." The noise was terrific. We found the unfortunate men lying in a heap in the well, mixed up with spars of wood and twisted metal. It* was a dreadful sight. The lads were moaning, and it was difficult to extricate them without adding to their pain. Practically all were unconscious." Gordon died within five minutes.

The injured were removed by ambulance to the Western Infirmary, where Smith gave the following graphic account of his experience: "The six of us got into the hoist, when it jammed after the gate had been closed. Watson tried to release it, but suddenly there was a crack and the cage plunged downward. All we knew .was a sudden rush of air and then a tremendous thud. It was awful. I have only the vaguest notion of what, happened after that. I regained my senses in the infirmary."