TRAPPED IN A SHAFT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22393, 14 April 1936, Page 12

TRAPPED IN A SHAFT

CAMEL BLOCKS ENTRANCE [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT] SYDNEY. April 9 A chance talc told by some aborigines lot! to tho amazing rescue near Wave Hill, Central Australia, of Mr. Tbillip Haniel, prospector. Mr. Hamel was found unconscious in a 15-foot shaft, in tho oil trance of which was the body of his camel, wedged upside down. Tho rescuers, Mr. J. Gillies and party, who have just reached Mount Isa, were travelling overland from the Western Australian border when they met an aboriginal tribe. A tale of a strange noiso was told by the natives. They had become terrified by it while passing a hole 10 miles away on the previous day. Air. Gillies' party went to the spot by motor lorry, and were startled to find the dead camel, loaded with prospecting equipment, l'ect upward 011 top of the hole. A black boy lowered into the hole reported a man's hand protruding from the rubble. It was decided that the only way to get at the man was to dissect the camel, and the lorry was sent back 10 miles to fetch an axe. After four hours' gruesome work, Mr. Gillies went down and found Mr. Hamel. The prospector did not regain consciousness until next day. He could not remember how long he had been a prisoner in the hole.