EXPLOSION IN CITY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17351, 16 May 1924, Page 7

EXPLOSION IN CITY.

WORKMAN INJURED. SHOCK FELT FIFTY YARDS AWAY. An explosion, which was heard for a distance of between two and three hundred yards, occurred in th© city shortly after ten o'clock this morning. Injuries were sustained by n workman named Charles Alexander Peters, who was admitted to the Christchurch Hospital suffering from cuts oti his forehead and the iop of his head and also from shock. Peters. who is a married man, residing at 10, Alexandra Street. Richmond. is rin employee of the firm of Harold Lightband, Ltd., leather merchants, and agents for a waterproof dressing for leather This morning Peters was engaged emptying cut several large drums of the dressing, which arrives in the form of a fluid. In order to empty the drumS thoroughly. lie built a small fire and placed a drum over it, resting on some bricks, after removing the plug. The fluid itself is stated to be non-inflammable and quite harmless, but apparently the Heat caused an explosion of air—a thing that has never happened before in similar circumstances.. TERRIFIC FORCE. The. explosion blew one end of the drum fifty feet, and the force was terrific that it was left by workmen over fifty yards away. It blew something off the root of a building a similar distance away. Peters was working by himself at the time and no one actually witnessed the accident, but the noise, which was heal’d for a considerable distance areund, soon attracted a fairly large crowd. Apparently Peters was struck by the end ot the drum as it was forced out by the explosion. Ho was picked up a few feet away, bleeding profusely from the severe cuts he had sustained and suffering from shock. He did not lose consciousness. Mr YV. A. Weakley, a young man employed by St George Atkinson and Co., merchants, whose premises are in front of the place ■where the accident occurred, was the first on the scene. He rushed out on hearing the explosion, and found Mr Peters on the ground covered in blood. while the drum appeared to be a mass of flames. He shifted Peters away from the flames and another man arrived shortly with a first aid outfit and bandaged the injured man. The ambulance was soon on the scene.

HIRE BRIGADE CADDED OUT

Meanwhile someone had given the fire ala*m and the brigade turned out, but found that there was nothing-for it to do, the lire having burned itself out.

Mr H. Liglitband explained to a reporter that his firm had been handling the dressing foi the past, ten years, and. although it had been the custom to heat the drums, in order to empty them out the roughly, no trouble had occurred previously. Peters was an experienced man and understood the work.

The eiid of the drum, which was about three feet in diameter, and was made cf firly thick iron, was crumpled by the force of the explosion and ripped. The rivets had been forced off. Tho drum is about five feet- in length and is strengthened by means of two iron bands. The plug is abouttwo inches in diameter.

The Hospital authorities state that Peters is suffering severely from shock arrd from burns and cuts about the head and face.