MINERS DROWNED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21576, 22 August 1933, Page 8

MINERS DROWNED

LOSS OF TWO LIVES HURLED INTO A RIVER CROSSING GORGE IN CHAIR NO TRACE OF BODIES A THIRD MAN SAVED [by TELEGRAPH OWN correspondent] DUtfEDIN, Monday Precipitated 60ft. into the swirling fast-running Molyneux River when the rope of the chair in which they were crossing gave way, two young miners were drowned yesterday afternoon, while another man was saved by holding on to the rope. The victims were:— Trevor Gilbert, aged 25, of Timaru. Thomas King, the same age as Gilbert and also of Timaru. Tho survivor is Ernest Nixon, also of Timaru, who is now a patient in the Clyde Hospital with injuries to his leg and shock. For tiie past three months four men, Messrs. Gilbert, King, Nixon and F. J. Smart, all of whom belong to Timaru, had been working under the miners' subsidy scheme on the Molyneux about one and a-half miles above Clyde. Recently they began using a private chair owned by Mr. William Annan, orchardist, which had not been used for over six years. Some time ago an adventurous man climbed out on the rope to the chair, which was suspended above the middle of the river, and brought it to tho bank. Mr. Annan then padlocked the chair, but tho pin was removed and .the chair placed in use again by the men, who aimed at saving a three miles' t walk round through Clyde to the opposite bank. Rescued Just in Time There was no pulling rope on the chair, and when the three young men set off on the crossing yesterday afternoon Mr. Nixon hauled the chair across hand over hand. When they were directly over the gorge the anchor, which was an iron cross set into the ground, gave way, and the chair and its occupants were hurled to the river below. Mr. Nixon retained his grip of the rope, but his mates were carried away by the current. The accident was witnessed by Mr. Smart, who had waited on the bank for the return of the chair so that he could make a crossing. He set oif down the river where other men were working. They returned with a rope and hauled Mr. Nixon out. Mr. Nixon had been in the icv-cold water for over a quarter of an hour when he was rescued. He was exhausted by his struggle to retain his grip of the rope in the swift current and whirlpools and, as his leg was also injured by coming into contact with the rocks, he was removed to tho Clyde Hospital. A Treacherous Spot Although the Molyneux was below its normal height, the river at this spot is very treacherous. It passes through • a narrow rocky gorge in a series of dangerous whirlpools. There could be no hope in the gorge for the strongest of swimmers.

A search is being made for the bodies and efforts are also being made to recover the submerged portion of the chair, as it is considered possible that one of the men drowned may be caught in the rope.