STILL ENTOMBED.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 808, 4 May 1910, Page 6

STILL ENTOMBED.

THE OTIRA TUNNEL ACCIDENT. Jj — : 11 LATEST NEWS. ' D DIFFICULTIES, OF THE RESCUERS. I v r FOOD SENT THROUGH A TUBE. b (By Telegraph.—Press Asioclatlon.t j Christchurch, May 3. f Two men aw 'still entombed in th© c tunnel, and rescue work is proceeding. The injured have been sent to Greymouth, - i John Duggan James Doyle are the tw<T men" still entombed. They are in the advanced tunnel head, and shut in by fallen rock and earth. A oross drive from j. the river side has been : pushed on, vigorously, but, owing to" the nature of the g ground, progress is slow, averaging about a foot, an hour, and every inch has to be y timbered to prevent the roof tumbling in Ml the rescuers. c While these 6low, but 6ure, means of rescuing the entombed men ■ are being ; continued, another gang of workers are trying to get at them from above by working through the fallen material. The j ; men inside the tunnel must be very close g to this gang, as conversation can be easily j carried on. It is thought by experts that only one large stone lies, between f the men and freedom, but they dare not c move it until the place has been thoroughly timbered. The 'scheme seems a e \ terribly precarious one, and there is no question that the men working in the hole are taking their, lives in. their hands. / j IN GOOD SPIRITS. t The entombed men are treating. their unenviable position with a light-hoar ted- . ness which does them credit. They roturn cheerful answers to inquiries, and endeavour' to convey the impression that •they are rather enjoying thte experience. The problem of getting food into their - -■ linvoluntaxy prison was solved in an inI i genie us way. The engineers said that an . air-tub© for ventilating the tunnel could Ibe used for this purpose, provisions being forced through by compressed air. i The only difficulty was that the men in^ eide had no proper tools to open the g ; tube." They, however, found- a hammer and Tail way "dog," and, by the ingeni- j : ous use of these rather unwieldy instru- ( ments, they uncoupled one of the flanges ( / of the pipe.' The engineers then uncoupled J a flange at the outside end, put a oon- ; densed milk tin attached to a ball of j string in the tube, and theii blew it in to the entombed men- There was thus a j thin string—e line of communication j and, by this string, the men in the { ' tunnel pulied in bottles of hot tea, sand- j irichfifi, and. carbide for their lamps. • Bundles of dry clothing were also made ( . up, but the men, using the air-tube as a • speaking-tube, explained - that they did not. want them, as they were quite dry : and comfortable. / . - During -the night a few men stood by the tube, and -entertained the prisoners' with news of the'day's happenings and little items of gossip. The men responded . with typical tunnel jokes, and appeared to be quite at ease about their position. THE INJURED. The following is a list of thei injured:— . Charles Beemer (badly . injured), in- . jtixed in the-back and th© right shoulder, J and legs, and general bruising. It is im- •] possible, to say whether any bones are - Broken!;:- • i George Pitts, injured in the chest and 1 ieft side of the iaoe and neck. 3 injured in the back and fllATld. •' i "Walter Pike, bruised legs and injured ; . .In the right hand. * . ■ J. Mahoney, injured in the shoulder and P. Sheehan, cut on the head and , bruised, back. Alex Beard, a lacerated elbow joint, bruised back and legs.' James Lovell, cut on the head and bruised less. ' Walter Baa, .'general braising of the chest,', and a cut: on the head. John Duggaa .(still entombed)* injured >, >vrm. . <2. Boyee, Tight hand injured. A GAPING HOLE. . Tl» scene at the tunnol is & melan- . Ajly one. The fall appears to have been •something in the nature of a subsidence }of the earth above. The tunnel has just : given way for a distance of,about.4oft. Jong by 20ft. broadband there' is a gaping £hole about 30ft. deep in the hillside. Inside the'toinel there is wreck and ruin - where, the fall took place, splintered tim<bers alternating with rocks, shingle, and Nearly ell the hands are engaged in iffre rescue work—art least, all there is ;Toom for. ' .The task of repairing the tunnel and getting.'through the fallen stuff will bo 'erne of some dif&culty and danger.. In a word the material will, have to be 'taken ;out in spoonfuls,' and timbering ■ ((will havo to bo' done every inch of the *ay. • " ' y TOO DANGEROUS. ' Owing to the continuous heavy rain today, the.attempt to reach the.entombed men from the ,top hole has been abanrdoned.: ' The rescuers were probably ! within three feet of the men, but it' was considered too dangerous for work to be . continued there. The oro6s-drive, however, is still being pushed on, and a of 15ft. Ims been made. It «s estimated that the'men , have to get lift, of solid Tock to reach the imprisoned ones. The -final rescue is, therefore, probably ; postponed until jabout midday, tomorrow. On making inquiries at the hospital this afternoon, u was ascertained that •the two men, M'Keich and Shaw, who were brought down from Broken River by special train yesterday, were doing as rail as could possibly be expected. BBIEF INTERVIEWS. INJURED MEN TELL THEIR STORY. ON THE WAT TO THE HOSPITAL. (By TflegTapli.—Special Correspondent.! Christchurch, May S; Two of the men injured, in the tun- ' ael accident, James MTieich (tunnel "boss") and James. Shaw (a trucker) arrived in . Christchurch by. special train at 10.20 last evening. They were at once removed by a squad from the St. John • imbalance Brigade to the .hospital. MUeich is. suffering from a bad cuti • across the top of the head and a broken) foot, and Shaw has a broken leg and other injuries. A representative of ,- the "Times,'", who joined ' the special train at Springfield, found the injured men in the guard's van in charge of a comrade (Mr. T. Armstrong). Shaw waß on. a litter on slings, and MTCeich was on a stretcher on a bodding of chaff sacks. They both were vory cheerful, making light of their injuries, their conversation all through being of concern for their <mfortnnato mates. ' STATEMENT BY THE TUNNEL "BOSS." "The accident happened about ■ 9.15 : a.m.," said Mr. M'Keich. "X am the boss of the shift, and had under me at ; i the timo about eleven men. We were bay clearing and timboring a portion

of tho tunnel that tad given 6omo trouble on account of tho rotten rock* and general heavy nature of tho soil. This would be about throe chains from the mouth and nine chains from tho lower face. Suddenly there was a grinding noise, and the timber overhead gave way. The rock and gravel poured down, and I saw a heavy beam flying towards me. It hit mo here (pointing to liisj bruised forehead), and I was thrown about fifteen yards. . That's all that I remember."

There was something pathetically heroic in H'Keich's next words:

"Any way Jim and I ore pretty lucky," he said, as lio lay with an in- ( jured head and a broken foot while the train rushed and jolted towards the city. , i HEROIC RESCUERS. George Pitts, a Bendigo man, accord- 1 ing to M'Keich's story, was very unfortunate. He was at breakfast when he heard of the accident, and at once rushed to the scene. There he found that his mate, Claude Bray, was among the buried men, and he went in to try to save'him. Pitts found Bray, whoso back was injured, and got him clear, when he was himself buried by another fall up to the neck, and was imprisoned among the others. . All the morning the earth continued to fall, rendering rescue work well nigh impossible. One brave man, whose name the sufferers did not know, made several attempts to reach his fellows, and succeeded in giving Beard some whisky, but Beard was later on buried by another fall. t Shaw, who was suffering intense pain from his broken leg, stated that he was anxious only to know that his mates were safe. He was hit by a beam, which struck'lfKeich, and was thrown clear. THE NATURE OF THE FALL. Armstrong, who accompanied, the injured men to the hospital, is .a carpenter at the tunnel. He thus described the nature of the fallr— "The earth has caved in right from the surface' for about two chains, and the working is pietty near the top ■ of the hill. There the whole tunnel is, blocked up, the spot being about nine chains from'the bottom heading. There is very soft ground, known as "greasy back" there. If there are any men m the chamber left between the fall and the face they will be safe as long as the water pipes are intact. There was a slip at the mouth when the work first began, but HTteicli got his men away safely then, and no one was hurt.' The country, Armstrong remarked, was bad and soft, and was all on the side of the' hili. It was very heavy and treacherous, and the digging would be an enormous task. There was every possibility of the men being saved from death by; the timber keeping the shingle off them. I Mr. Neil McLean, on© of the contractors for the Arthur's Pass Tunnel, arrived | from Wellington this morning. He waa seen by a 'Tress" reporter, and stated, in reply to a question, that he had no additional information regarding the accident. Mr. Hlean went on toßealey shortly after his arrival. another account. BY ONE OF THE RESCUE PARTY. perilous experience. (By TeleEranh—Press Association.) Greymouth, May 3. Messrs. Beemer, Beard, Pitts, and Bray were brought into the Grey Hospital this evening. . j; . A representative,, of, the "Argus interviewed one of' tho i party ■ who broug the injured into town.. They gave the following' account 'of' the l accidfint: "Well, to' begin with, when the accident occurrcd, I was working outside, and getting the alarm from Jack Columbus, one of those who got free,-we rushed to .the tunnel and reached it . second fall. On tlie second fail there was,a general stampede for the-tunnel-mouth. Wo knew at once there was a number missing, some of the rescue party being 'pinned—George Pitts was "T went in on and off with the other iescuera and helped. The tunnel men and many others formed a gallant party of ready rescuers. Beemer, h? was pinned down and held in a trying, position for thirteen hours. Taps on the P l ?® were heard from , tho other men, Doylo and Duggan,'. on hearing which t a crosscut was commenced from the river sido. / "Alex. Beard had a miraculous escape. Pita who was jammed underneath tho truck, had. the presence of mind to extinguish his lamp and -then use the lamp to prop the timber up, thus keeping the weight; off his neck. For eight hours he .stayed in that position/ , Wli "Of the rescuing party Pitts the only man left in. Ho was pinned in a dangerous position. Mahoney, Sheehan, and Boyes, and others of_ the rescuing party managed to extricate themselves. ' TAPS ON THE AIR PIPE. "Ab to Doyle and Duggan, the reason why they are in their present position is that when they heard the collapse they ran into the tunnel, i'ear was expressed for their' welfare, and wo were relieved to hear taps on the air pipe,i which told us of their safety. After nil the other buried men were extricated the cpnnectionf of the air pipe were taken off, and food, dry clothing, and stimulants were sent to Doylo and Dnggan| through the air pipe by means of a string which was blown through. Doylo and Duggan appeared to bo in good spirits, and could hear tho noise of the men working in the crosscut which Mr. Gavin had directed to bo put in. "Pitts, Beard, Bray, ana Beemer wero brought from Bealey jflat by coach and wagonettes to. Otira, whero a special train met then, Dr. M'Brearty anu Nurse Drewitta beine in attendance. Everything that could be done has been done. The men from Otira end came willingly at tho request of the management, and their assistance was roost welcome. All I now desire is to see Doyle and Duggan safely out, and our comrades now suffering in the hospital sound and well again. When that eventuates, wo shall be right glad, and thank our lucky stars it was not worse." AT THE HOSPITAL. Ijast owning the four injured men, viz., Beemer, Beard, Pitts, and Bray, were brought to town by the Otira express by MessTs. O'Halloran, and W. Pike. On arrival at the hospital they were at once made comfortable, and their injuries attended to. Beemer appears to 1 bo the most seriI ously injured. He is badly crushed about tho legs and body, and is suffer- ' ing from intense 6hock. During his dei tention he was directing operations, and i he displayed remarkable courage, and •vas in good spirits. He is 35 years of age, and is very popular with the work- : men. This is tho most serious case. Beard was injured severely about the i) logs and shoulders, and is suffering a 1 good deal from shock. This case, howeyer, is not considered serious. His age is 35 years. ' Pitts is suffering from a great many > bruises, but, in a few days, he, will bo i all right again. His age is 26 years. Bray is not badly injured, but ho is ' suffering a good deal from shock. His 1 age is 18 years. . . r The two entombed miners can bo com--1 municated with by means of. tho air pipe, f which is six inches in diameter. A 1 tin. attached to a string, was forced through the pipe, and, by this means, food, etc., can be got to the mon. They are receiving all sorts of luxuries, chocolates, fruit, etc. It is expected that the drive now being put in will reach the! men by noon to--5 morrow.