STRUCK BY CASE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23040, 18 May 1938, Page 14

STRUCK BY CASE

HATCHMAN'S DEATH ACCIDENT ON AORANGI PROMINENT UNION MEMBER - Struck by a 15cwt. case of machinery which became dislodged from a sling when being unloaded from the liner Aorangi at Queen's Wharf yesterday morning, a waterside worker, Mr. Nicholas Martin Sanders, of 10 Cobden Street, Newton, suffered fatal injuries. Mr. Sanders, who was aged 65 years, was a past president of the Auckland Waterside Workers' Union, and president of tho Waterside Workers' Band. Mr. Sanders was engaged as a hatchman, directing discharging work from the Aorangi's No. 3 hold, immediately forward of tho bridge. He was standing on the deck supervising the lifting of the case of machinery which, when it had been lifted clear of the hatch and was being carried above the bridge, fell from the wire sling and dropped more than 20ft. to the deck. Mr. Sanders was struck on the head, Buffering extensive injuries, and was lowered from the liner to a St. John ambulance in a critical condition. The case, which was splintered at one end by the fall, lay on an angle from the bridge to the hatch combing. Mr. Sanders died at the Auckland Hospital shortly after his admission. An inquest was opened before Mr. F. K. Hunt, coroner, in the afternoon, and was adjourned after formal evidence had been given. Mr. Sanders is survived by: his widow, a son and a daughter.