FIGHT WITH QUICKSANDS

Shannon News, 1 March 1927, Page 3

FIGHT WITH QUICKSANDS

MAN SLOWLY DRAWN DOWN AN ORDEAL OF EIGHT HOURS. Rescuers worked frantically with desperate energy for eight hours to gave a man, David Inglis, who was slowly being sucked down by quicksand after he had been trapped fry the partial collapse of a trench In which ho was working. His mate, Ernest Johnson, in the meanwhile stood motionless besidt him, wholly alive to "tht fact that his slightest move would mean a further collapse and instant death to tht trapped man. The men had been digging up a drain trench 14ft. deep at a private house known as Mayvcrn at Cheetham Hill, near Manchester, England when the shoring collapsed and Ingll was instantly sucked down as far as his waist by quicksand. From five o'clock one evening the Manchester and Salford lire brigades, assisted by a medical man, worked unceasingly until early next morning In their attempt at rescue. Johnson could have been rescued quite early in the proceedings, but with heroic fortitude he braved the ordeal, knowing that the weight, of bis body alone prevented the total collappo of the excavation. At one time Inglis was buried up to his head and a hole had to be bored to enable him to breathe. Johnson was extricated first, and was laid, groaning, on a stretcher, and massaged. His first words wore, 'ls the other chap out?" Then, amid the cheers of the rescue party, Inglis was drawn up. Both men were so exhausted,•however, that the doctor had to give each an injection. . Inglis* father, who had been an anxious spectator, of the scene, broke down as he bent over his son. Later Inglis said: "My head and lungs felt as though they were busting and I could feel my feet gradually sinking. I was powerless and felt sure I was dying slowly. I owe my life to my mate. Ernie Johnson, who supported a load of earth for seven hours. When T was released I smoked 30 cigarettes."