TRAPPED IN BOILER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22391, 12 October 1934, Page 10

TRAPPED IN BOILER

YOUTH BURNED TO DEATH CLOTHING CATCHES FIRE BRAVE ATTEMPT AT RESCUE .(Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, October 11. Trapped among the tubes and stays of a marine boiler, a young apprentice was burned to death when hia clothing caught lire this afternoon.. The, youth, Stuart Simpson, 17 years of age, was working in a boiler which stands in the yard of his employers, Mason Brothers’ Engineering Company, Ltd., in Freeman’s Bay. A brave attempt at rescue by Mr G. H. Mason was unsuccessful. Mason suffered burns on both arms, and managed to escape from the boiler when almost overcome by the fumes and heat. Simpson lived at Herne Bay. The boiler was used in the motor vessel Pukcko .when she was a steamer, but for some time past it has stood in the yard as a storage tank for oxygep. The biennial examination of the .boiler by the Government inspector was due to take place to-day, and the oxygen was therefore drained out yesterday. The manhole in the top of the boiler was opened to-day, and one of the engineers, Mr George Franklin, and Simpson entered to lay sacks about the inside to facilitate the inspection. The apprentice went first and climbed down the tubes and stays until he was near the bottom of , the boiler. He was followed by Franklin. They had no light with them, and it is presumed that Simpson struck a match to sec where to place the sacks. Without warning there cafne a |mrst of fire from where the apprentice was standing, and the flames reached up to Franklin near the top of the boiler!, •He immediately climbed out at the top and down the ladder in search of a bucket of water and called for help. / , One of the proprietors, Mr Mason, hastened up the ladder and looked through the manhole, from where he could see the youth, held upright by the tubes, with his clothes ablaze. He called out to the staff below to hand him a sack, and he wriggled through the manhole in an effort to save the apprentice. 1 “I extinguished a piece of rope ,that was blazing just inside the manhole and then slipped down beside Simpson,” Mr Mason said. “ There was so little room inside, however, that I could not wrap a sack round him as I intended. The boy was a mass of flames, and as soon as I reached him my own clothes caught fire and I had to climb out hurriedly.” By'the time Mr Mason had climbed to safety other members of the staff were on top of the boiler with buckets, and water was poured down the manhole, and the flames were quickly extinguished. An effort was made to recover the body, but, owing to the fumes inside the boiler, it was impossible for anyone to enter, and another manhole near the bottom,' secured with heavy dogs, was opened and compressed air circulated for some time. Finally , one of the , staff climbed down from the top and tied a rope about the body, which was drawn up and through’the manhole. It was lowered to the ground, and a formal examination showed that the youth was dead. ; -

, Mr Mason said later that, although the oxygen itself was nbt inflammable, anything set alight in a container in which traces of oxygen still remained Would -burn much more fiercely than if in an ordinary atmosphere. There was little doubt that the youth was dead almost as soon as his clothing caught fire.