A DREDGE HAND ELECTROCUTED

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7336, 14 January 1911, Page 1

A DREDGE HAND ELECTROCUTED

—■ ■ INSTANTANEOUS PEATH YOUNG -MAN KILLED ON DUNEDIN HARBOUR WORKS. PEES 3 ASSOCIATION'. DUNEDIN, January 10. John Burns, employed by tho-Harbour Board on the suction dredge Vulcan, was electrocuted about quarter past eight this morning. The fatality seems to have occurred very simply. Deceased and another workman named William Dowel! were engaged repairing a joint in the line of pipes which conveys the spoil from the dredge to the dumping area. One oi the pontoons near the end of "Victoria wharf had been shifted by the action of the rough weather, and the joint of 'the pipes had been wrenched open. Tho men were proceeding to repair the joint and were erecting a block tackle. One end of the tackle had been attached to tho pipes and the other was to be fixed to a derrick which rested on. a pontoou and stood with its top. above three wires .which convey aCO!) volts of electricity to the dredge.. Burns mounted the derrick to fasten the tackle block, whilst -Dowoil remained underneath. After a moment or so Dowell called out to Burns, asking if he required a hand. There was no reply. LYING ACROSS THE WIRES. The unfortunate man was lying across the wires apparently dead, smoke issuing from his clothes. Dowell called to the dredge men, stating that something was wrong with Burns, aud asking them to turn oil' the power. The dredge master, William Reeves, immediately came ashore, a distance of some eighty yards, and shut off the power. After the power .was off deceased was taken down. - Dr. Evans was promptly on the spot, and alter examination gave it as lis opinion that death must have been instantaneous. From the fact . that deceased's left hand and one of his thighs were badly burned it would seem as if ho had caught the wire with his hand and then thrown his leg across the wires. Another version is that Burns stepped on tho wires. Deceased made no outcry whatever. Deceased, who was twenty-nine years of age, and who had been employed by tho Harbour Board for the last, two years, leaves a widow and three young children.