FALL FROM BRIDGE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 230, 27 September 1940, Page 3

FALL FROM BRIDGE

DRAMATIC RESCUE.

ACCIDENT TO WORKMAN. HAMILTON, this day. Prompt action by a passer-by saved the life of a Hamilton 'Borough Council employee, Mr. L. Reid, aged about 35, a married man of Maeroa. who fell from the traffic bridge into the Waikato River this morning. Mr. Reid, who fell about 50ft, had been employed on repainting the traffic bridge for about six months. An unfortunate aspect of the accident was that he was due to be transferred to another task next week, and to-day was his last day on the bridge. About eight o'clock he climbed along the archway of the bridge, and stationed himself at its highest point on the upstream side. As he was moving a piece of eteel he overbalanced and fell, clutching a length of about 20 feet of steel tubing. He fell heavily on his side, being rendered 6emi-consciou£. He is not a swimmer, but in a miraculous manner he was able to maintain his buoyancy as he drifted downstream. Immediately he fell, another workman on the bridge called for assistance. A passer-by, Mr. J. D. Pepper, aged 29, a married man of Hamilton East, left his bicycle on the bridge and ran to the rescue. Mr. Reid had actually floated { about 200 yards before Mr. Pepper reached him after swimming some distance downstream fully clad except for his boots and coat, which he discarded before entering the water. As Mr. Pepper was swimming to the rescue several of the painters employed on the bridge secured a lifeline erected near the Hamilton Rowing Club's boathouse and threw it to Mr. Pepper, who would not otherwise have been able to reach the bank with Mr. Reid. When pulled in both men were practically exhausted. Mr. Reid was taken to the Waikato Hospital in a St. John Ambulance. His condition is reported to be satisfactory, although he is suffering from shock.