HEAVY EXPLOSIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1934, Page 8

HEAVY EXPLOSIONS

SEWER BLOWS UP

CAUSE UNKNOWN

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) . AUCKLAND, This Day. Two explosions with the noise of a naval salvo, followed by darting flames and heavy clouds of smoke, occurred at 3 o'clock this morning in an abandoned sewer in Albert Street. They shattered twenty-five windows in seven buildings, and had tho workmen who were engaged on the drainage operations been on duty in the street at tho time, loss of life must have resulted. t The precise cause of the explosions is puzzling experts. A tentative theory is that gr.- of some kind accumulated in the sewer, and somehow was ignited. A resident in the locality says he detected a smell at 10' o'clock last night which he thought was sewer odour, and after the explosions the smell reminded him of carbon ga^, A subsequent examination of the gas main which passes over the sewer revealed no leakage, and it is reported also that electrip power cables in the vicinity are intact.

Although the hour was early, a surprisingly large crowd of sightseers assembled after the explosions. The sewer, which is 14ft below the surface of tho street, was abandoned fifteen years ago. City Council workmen have been driving a tunnel' shaft, in connection with stormwater drainage. The view was expressed this .morning that had this shaft not been driven, and the explosion had occurred, the .whole roadway would have been blown up.