MOUNT EDEN SMASH ENDS FATALLY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 669, 22 May 1929, Page 1

MOUNT EDEN SMASH ENDS FATALLY

DEATHS FROM BURNS

Driver and Passenger Succumb trapped in blazing lorry PINNED in his seat, with flames raging all round him, the driver of a motor-lorry which crashed into a telegraph post on Mount Eden Roafd early last evening succeeded in making Ins escape only after a desperate struggle in the face of a veritable furnace, and fell out on to the road seriously injured. He died in the Auckland Public Hospital this morning, and his comrade has also succumbed to his injuries.

fpHE lorry, which was a vehicle of i k two tons, owned by Winstone’s, i Ltd., struck the post with a terrific impact, and almost immediately burst jnto flames. Of the four men travelling pa the lorry one escaped without injury, another was hurled on to the road and suffered severe head injuries, and the other two were trapped in the front, which soon developed into a blazing inferno. The following are the victims of the accident:— DEAD Mr. George Durham Biddick, married, aged 63, of 61 Rose Rd., Ponsonby, engaged as a quarry foreman by Winstone, Ltd., suffered severe burns, from which he succumbed at the hospital at 6 o’clock this morning. Mr. Frederick Wilkin, a married man, aged about 35, of 96 St. Luke's Road, Mount Albert, also succumbed at hospital this morning from severe burns. INJURED Mr. George Ulich, of 9S Hobson Street, severe head injuries. Re- ; ported this morning by the hospital authorities to be comfort- \ able. At the time of the accident, the lorry was travelling along Mount Eden Road in the vicinity of Prospect Rise in the direction of the city. The lorry was running alongside a tramcar, until it reached a stationary van standing at the curb of the footpath. Apparently the driver of the lorry accelerated to enable his vehicle to pass the stationary lorry ahead of the tram, but just failed to do so. The townward bound lorry struck the other vehicle in the roar, and then hitting the tramcar a glancing blow swerved off the road and hit the tele graph pole with a terrific impact. In a few secondß the wrecked vehicle was a mass of flames. One of the travellers, who was standing on the load of earth carried by the lorry at the rear, escaped injury by jumping clear when the fire broke out. The telegraph post was

>uuu amaze, ami the burning benzine luickly spread over the road. A ghastly sight met the gaze of the spectators, who were powerless to aid the stricken men in the cab, on account of the terrific heat of the blazing lorry and the surrounding petrol. After a desperate battle Mr. Wiltin, the driver, escaped through the broken windscreen, but although he tad not been confined long to the cab, te was badly injured. Mr. Biddick was less fortunate. He was pinned back by the steering column, which tad been driven back against the seat by the force of the impact. He had to put up a desperate battle to extricate himself from a position in which he was at the mercy of the devouring flames. At last, after what seemed hours to the willing helpers, who were kept off by the continual bursts of flame from the benzine, Mr. Biddick broke free from his position, ind fell out on to the concrete. ENGINE TORN OUT The stricken man was covered with blankets to await the arrival of the ambulance, and in the meantime Mr. Ulich and Mr. Wilkin had been taken to a neighbouring house, where all that was possible was done for them. The telephones in the houses on one side of the road would not work, owing to the fact that the crash with the pole had brought down some of the lines. Eventually the St. John Ambulance was communicated with, and headquarters wasted no time in getting an ambulance out. It made the run from Rutland Street to the scene of the accident in five minutes, and conducted Mr. Biddick to the hospital. The other two injured men had been taken on by car. The Mount Eden Fire Brigade arrived on the scene and soon had the fire extinguished, by which time the cab of the lorry had been almost totally consumed and the telegraph post charred from top to bottom. - Although a number , of telephone wires were brought down, the electric power wires, carried on the same post, stood the strain. This was fortunate, as the current carried by the wires at the time would have proved fatal. The back of the lorry had been swung on to the pavement with the force of the impact, and the load of earth scattered over the road. Pieces of the bonnet, and shattered glass were also strewn over the road. Ths engine of the lorry had been torn out of its bed when it came in contact with the post, and was forced underneath the floorboards as far back as the driver’s seat. It is thought possible that the fire may have been caused by such a part of the engine as the exhaust pipe being driven into the benzine tank, but it is now practically impossible to ascertain what actually was the cause of the outbreak. The stationary van, which the doomed lorry struck when endeavouring to pass ahead of the tram, was owned by Dominion Window Cleaners, Ltd., of Edendale, and was not attended at the time. It had been pushed forward by the collision, and struck a stone wall. The running board and mudguards on one side were torn off, the rear wheel was damaged, and the frame strained. Mr Wilkin, who died this morning, had one child, a little girl about two vears old. During the war Mr. Wilkin was an officer of the mercantile marine, and on one occasion, when he was an officer on a ship carrying Indian troops lire broke out and started to spread toward the ammunition magazine. Mr. Wilkin volunteered to desend into the smoke and fumes of the hold with a hose and, doing so, was successful in extiguishing the flames and saving the ship. For this service fie was awarded the D.S.O. Mr. Biddick, who had a grown-up family, was an old and valued servant of Winstone’s, having been associated with the firm for over 40 years.