DEATH IN TUNNEL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21394, 11 July 1939, Page 5

DEATH IN TUNNEL

SUCKED INTO TRAIN BY WIND FETTLER DECAPITATED SYDNEY. June 30. Sucked from escape holes in the City Railway tunnel between the Harbour Bridge and Wynyard underground station by a fierce air current created by two passing trains. J. H. Pass. 50. was killed, and L. C. Chaffey, 44. was seriously injured when the blast carried them into one of the speeding trains. The holes in which the men were sheltering are not equipped with handgrips for the men to steady themselves, and they open on to each tunnel through the dividing wall, each tunnel accommodating one train. The holes are about 3ft 6in deep, 4ft wide, and Bft high, and are spaced about 15 yards apart. Pass and Chaffey were members of a fettling gang which had just finished work for the day. When they heard the trains approaching, they took shelter, in accordance with practice, in the holes. Pass was in one of the holes with G. O. Morrissey and P. J. Fitzpatrick. Morrissey said: “We jumped into the safety holes as the train went past. Pass, Fitzpatrick, and I were holding on to each other. When the north-bound train had almost passed us, a Wynyard-bound train came down the other tunnel. Suddenly a terrific current of air seemed to tear Pass from our grip. Before we knew what had happened, he had disappeared under the first carriage of the Wynyard-bound train. I cannot remember clearly what happened next.’’ Chaffey. police were told was sheltering in the next escape hole, and was thrown against the side of the train by the same current of wind, but fell to the permanent way. He suffered severe concussion and a fractured shoulder. The driver of the train which hit the men was unaware of the accident until informed by the station master at Wynyard. who had been apprised of the accident by telephone from the tunnel.