EXPLOSION AT OTIRA TUNNEL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 636, 13 October 1909, Page 8

EXPLOSION AT OTIRA TUNNEL.

OVERSEER KILLED. • '■ : . THREE OTHERS 1 INJURED. ■[ :'■'" ' ..; (By Telegraph—Press Association.)' ~~ Chrlstchurch, October 12. An explosion ocourred rat the Otira tunnel' 1 works to-day,.- as the result of•-,which, one man (W. Dick)-was'killed, and three others (W. Rushton, J. S. Jones, and.E. Gambirazzi) ware more or less seriously injured. Dick was overseer at' the tunnel face, and the other men were working with him. Seveiral fnses had been lighted, and the men were engaged in preparing others when the first lot'exploded prematurely and unexpectedly. Pieces of rock were hurled in all directions, and the men' had no .'time to seek shelter.- Dick was-'killed instantly, and the other men were also struck, but-were'able to escape alive. ■ ■:, The affair has cast quite a gloom over the whole of the works, 'the fatality being the only one .that has happened' since the tunnel enterprise was started. Dick, the man killed, was married, and leaves a wife and-child, and the greatest sympathy is felt for them. . . The' practice' in the tunnel-is to' prepare about twelve shots on the face, all of which are ■ fired by time fuses, the time between the shots fractions of seconds. It seems probable that the short time fuses fired' off •the first charges too 60on, so that the men would be-unable to-get away from the face after lighting the last fuse before the explosion took place. ' - •■-...