BADLY SCALDED

Southland Times, Issue 19303, 23 July 1924, Page 6

BADLY SCALDED

MAN FALLS INTO VAf OF HOT WATER. Mr George Whittingham, Jun., of Gore, had a marvellous escape from a gruesome death about 6 o’clock yesterday morning at his father’s brewery. The unfortunate young man found himself precipitated into a vat of water which had attained a temperature of JOO degrees. Fortunately, assistance was at hand, and Mr Whittingham was quickly dragged from danger. Exactly how the accident occurred is not quite clear, but it appears that a hogshead of 50 gallons of cold water became displaced and fell on a plank placed across the vat of hot water, on which Mr Whittingham was standing at the time. The plank was broken and Whittingham fell into the vat, which contained some 24in of water at 190 degrees.

Mr Whittingham, sen., was working downstairs at the time, heard his son cry out. and was suddenly drenched with the water from the hogshead. He rushed up the staircase, gave his son his hand, pulled him out, and immediately stripped his clothing off. Mr James Bain, an assistant, was on the scene in a few moments, and in rashing to get a candle he also slipped into the hot water, receiving severe scalds from the knee downwards on one leg. It may be explained that a naked light is necessary at the factory owing to the dense steam arising from the vats. Medical aid was quickly on the scene, and the sufferers had their scalds attended to. Whittingham is badly injured from the waist down.