EXPLOSION IN PIT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22725, 11 May 1937, Page 18

EXPLOSION IN PIT

FIVE WORKERS INJURED STRANGE GAS ACCUMULATION [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY, May 7 Five men were injured, two seriously, in an explosion in the basement at the back of the Customs House, Circular Quay, Sydney. Only a few minutes before, four of the men had been forced by fumes to leave a drainage pit where the explosion centred. They and others in the vicinity had extraordinary escapes. A huge sheet of. flame, which immediately followed the detonation, inflicted painful burns on the faces', arms and bodies of men working in the building. "We got out of the pit and a couple of us were looking over the edge," said Jack Farley, one of the injured men. "Suddenly there was a dull roar below us, and a great red flame leaped upwards. It burned us terribly. It was like a red hot blade being drawn across."

One man, Oswald McConnell, was hurled high into the air and he crashed to the floor. The others near him were blown over. His overalls, burning fiercely, McConnell leaped to his feet arid staggered up the steps leading to a lane. The flames caused McConnell terrible agony, but he showed remarkable fortitude by tearing off his overalls. . Detectives believe that some substance, which caused an explosive gas, found its way into the sewer, passing underneath the Customs House. It. is thought this gas was ignited by a spark from the lead to an electric light, which was being used to illuminate the pit. McConnell had been in the pit on several occasions during the last few days. He mentioned that there was a smell of gas. The men were examining the pit through an open manhole, and McConnell was inside when the explosion occurred.