STAGING COLLAPSES

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 121, 20 February 1928, Page 8

STAGING COLLAPSES

ACCIDENT AT REGATTA Dominion Special Service. Christchurch, February 18. Fifty children faced possible drowning in nearly six feet of water, when the launch staging collapsed at jKaiapoi to-day during the progress of the regatta. They were all rescued by means of motor-boats and the help of people on the bank. The staging slowly sank to a depth of about two feet. It was only the iron piping used as railing that prevented it from breaking. As it collapsed there were cries from the children and terrified shrieks from the women. The banks of the river and the main bridge near the pontoon were crowded with people watching the regatta events. The staging, which had been called upon to bear the weight of about fifty children, showed signs of giving way about 3 p.m. The large watertight barrels at the end furthest from the bank sank to a depth of one foot, and it was a miracle that none of the children fell overboard. One boy dived into the river and swam ashore. The rest of the children made to leave the pontoon, but the pressure of the crowd on the bank prevented them doing so in time. As the children swarmed along the gangway from the end of the staging to the bank, the wooden structure bent in. the middle. The terrified children were sunk into two feet of water, tut luckily the iron pipes prevented a catastrophe. People in motor-boats and people on the bank pulled the children out of the water until only one girl remained. This child had her foot caught in the staging, which had to be wrenched up to release her. The' children were little the worse for their experience. The staging rested with the gangway deep in the water, and the barrels almost in the air. The pontoon was erected as a landing stage for launches by the Waimakariri Harbour Board.