YOUTH DEAD UNDER FALL OF COAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 266, 10 November 1945, Page 4

YOUTH DEAD UNDER FALL OF COAL

HAPPENING ON VESSEL (P.A.) Auckland, Nov. 9 A member of the crew of the coastal steamer Korowai was found dead under a fall of coal in the ship's bunker this afternoon. He was Leslie Stafford, aged 18, a trimmer, of Radley Street, Christchurh. The Korowai left Auckland at 1.55 p.m. for Lyttelton, and the youth was last seen bv some of the other members of the crew about 1 o’clock. He was on the 12 to 4 o’clock watch. As he was missing at 4 o’clock, the chief engineer, Mr. L. Davies, went In search of him, and, on looking through an opening from the bunker to the stokehold, saw an arm protruding from the coal. Immediate steps were taken to remove the coal, and the body was recovered at 5.30 p.m.

The trimmer’s duty was to enter the bunker in order to trim the coal so that it could be readily shovelled in the stokehold. The discovery was made when the Korowai was off Cape Colville, and the vessel returned to Auckland, arriving at . the export wharf at 8.54 p.m. She is due to sail again at 11 o’clock in the morning.