THE CADIA DISASTER

Hokitika Guardian, 14 March 1921, Page 4

THE CADIA DISASTER

DETAILS OF ACCIDENT. V •iUSTIt ALIAN AND N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. a SYDNEY, March 11. tc The Cadia disaster was caused G through the explosion of •> plug of tl gelgiuite dislodging over 1000 tons ot li ironstone. Only nine men were buried, n all of whom were killed instantane- A ously. . Within five minutes of the explosion A the first victim was dug out. He was ] still breathing, hut almost immediately u expired. 1 The accident occurred at two <> clock e and within an hour and a quarter all s the bodies except Christie’s had .been recovered, all being frightfully crushed. ( in some cases the features were un- , recognisable, and one man was disem- i bowelled. Christie’s body was recov- t creel at 7 o’clock. j * Jenkins was the first dug out. H<’ 1 would have escaped, but when be beard j and saw the tumbling mass he attempt- > i od to save a horse which he was in charge of, and was overwhelmed. 1 An extraordinary fact connected with the disaster is that not one man received minor injuries, the nine victims comprising the complete toll, and the doctor’s only work being to pronounce life extinct. FURTHER DETAILS. SYDNEY, Alaicli 12. Further details of the Cadia mine accident relate the suddenness of the explosion and work of rescue. W illiam Taylor, a powder monkey, who had experienced a number of previous disasters. once being the sole survivor of Jseven deaths, said he had thirty years {experience. He was most careful with /explosives. He fired on an average ,259 holes daily. He damped the bore, pud when testing found it quite cold, f .{When lie placed the blasting powder m thi' bore, he heard a hiss and cried out: , •• Look out.” Simultaneously he was f knocked backwards and singed about i, the face and hands. He endeavoured ~ to warn the men underneath, but the ~ thing happened so suddenly that it was e j useless. The quarry was situated in o i high hills, divided into a face rescmbliM,r it terrace, each thirty feet high ' ! ranging one above the other. The top v i face' was blown away, completely <>veiwhelming the men below. Sergeant Clack gives a graphic ar- „ count of the work of the rescuers. He 1S said some bodies were buried six feet. ,1 Men with ropes were pulling for their „ lives at huge rocks, and immovable boulders. Some of the resellers were on „ their hands and knees scraping with t , their fingers to undermine them. They had to crawl underneath and remove ,i tons of debris with shovels. ~ A sad feature was that must of the % deceased were married. Johnson had a . wile and seven children. Bright, a wife and four children. Mr Doolev sent a telegram containing ;. ('ahiiiel’s symapthy. The Mayor »i {j Orange is visiting the scene to-day.