TWO MEN KILLED

Hokitika Guardian, 29 August 1930, Page 5

TWO MEN KILLED

IN BULLER CORGE. RESULT OF EXPLOSION. (By Telegraph—Per Press Association* , WESTPORT, August 29. While engaged on the last piece of work of the night shift, firing a big' shot, two men were killed and two other badly injured near O’Regan's camp, Buller George just after after midnight. The killed are:— Edward Waldie, single, 40, a native of Ballarat. Charles Ayres, single, 50, of Colac, Victoria. The injured were : Thomas Corbett, single, 41, right arm . broken in S. two places, laceration of head and legs. Robert Taylor, single, 27, leg injuries and broken arm.

The men commenced work in a tunnel in the afternoon. Jlie usual practice was to fire shots at mid-night before they knocked off work, In readiness for the next shift in the morning. They had bored twenty holes and six -; plugs of gelignite were inserted in each. The men state the fuse was lit and the whole twenty charges exploded immediately. According to the position of the dead men, it would appear that they were in the act o'f walking away, when the explosion occurred.

The force of he explosion brought down fifteen tons of solid rock. Although the 'cause of the accident is not known, it is generally thought among the men at the camp that faulty fuse caused a premature explosion, but this is only conjecture. Despite his severe injuries, Taylor crawled out of the tunnel and made his way to the swing bridge across the river, and crawled across the bridge to O’Regan’s camp, a distance of one and a half miles, where he collapsed. The injured men were brought / to Westport Hospital. Their condition is reported to be satisfactory.