THE CADIA DISASTER

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 144, 14 March 1921, Page 5

THE CADIA DISASTER

A SUDDEN EXPLOSION f THE WORK OF THE RESCUERS By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright. Sydney, March 12. ( Further details of tho disaster at Cadia relate to the suddenness of the explosion, and the work of rescue. William Taylor, “the powder monkey," who had experienced a number of previous disasters, once being the sole survivor when there were seven deaths, said he had had thirty years’ experience, and was most careful with explosives. He had fired on an average 250 holes daily. He had damped the bore, and in testing it found it quite cold. When he placed the blasting powder in the bore he heard a hiss and splutter, and cried out, “Look out!" Simultaneously he was knocked backwards, and was singed about the face and hands. He endeavoured to warn the men underneath, but the thing happened so suddenly it was useless. The quarry is situated on a high hill, divided into faces, resembling terraces, each thirty feet high, and ranging one above the other. The top face was blown away, completely overwhelming men immediately below. .

Sergeant Clark gave ft graphic account of the work of the rescuers. He said that some of the bodies were buried six feet. Men wtth ropes pulled for their lives at the nuge rocks and Immovablei boulders. Some went on their hands and knees, scraping, with their fingers and undermining the rocks. They then had to crawl underneath and remove tons of debris with shovels. A sad feature is that most of the deceased were married. Johnson leaves a wife and seven children, and Bright a wife and four children.

Mr. Dooley sent a telegram conveying Cabinet’s sympathy. The Mayor of Orange is visiting the scene to-day.—Press Assn.