SYDNEY BRIDGE TRAGEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22198, 27 August 1935, Page 15

SYDNEY BRIDGE TRAGEDY

FALL INSIDE PYLON FATAL DROP OF 150 FEET A man was killed instantly when he fell 150 ft. down the shaft of tho northern pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge last week. Although about 50 people have fallen from the bridge, somo into tho harbour and some to the ground at tho approaches, this is the first occasion on which anyone has fallen inside the pylon. Unlike tho southern pylon, in which tho spaco has been used for commercial purposes, tho northern pylon in which the fall took place is hollow. The great shaft, like a gigantic lift well, runs inside the pylon from tho decking to the ground. A deck runs across the bridge, with one sido facing the shaft, but it is protected by a steel railing, similar to that which protected tho sides of the bridge before the safety fence was added. Two girls, aged about 10 and 14, approached a man who was walking over the footway at tho northern end of tho bridge, and told him that tliev had seen a man climb ovor the railing guarding the shaft. Tho police were informed, and when the gates which protect the entrance to the bottom of the shaft were opened tho shattered body of a man was found on the ground. His injuries left no doubt that he had fallen from tho top. Nearly every bono in his body had been broken.