MAN IN BLAZING OIL

Patea Mail, Volume LIII, 11 March 1932, Page 3

MAN IN BLAZING OIL

* AUCKLAND FOREMAN'S AWFUL

DEATH

EXPLOSION IN OIL FURNACE,

' Enveloped in a sheet of burning oil as the result of an explosion in the furnace he was attending at the factory of Grain Products, Ltd., Newton, Auckland, William Albert Dempsey was shockingly burned about 11 a.m. on Wednesday. In spite of his agonising injuries Dempsey lingered in a conscious state for seven hours before he died.

Dempsey, who wasi foreman at the factory, was aged 44 and had a wife and family. He was regulating the furnace when an internal explosion occurred. •There was a deafening roar and the only other workman iu the basement at the time was horrified tc. see Dempsey enveloped from head to foot in blazing oil.

Dempsey was still covered with flames when the fire brigade arrived. He was clad in a shirt and trousers and those garments, together with sacks that had been flung over him, were reduced to shreds by the flames. The blaze was eventually suppressed with chemicals and the man was rushed to the hospital, but there was no hope for his recovery.