FATAL LAND SLIDE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 17 October 1913, Page 5

FATAL LAND SLIDE.

THERE MEN BURIED ALIVE,

{By Tdegravh—Press Association.)

' GISBOiENE; Last Night. At 8.80 o'clock this morning, while excavation was proceeding at the reservoir site at Wainake, 20 miles from GKsborne, a landslide caused the timber to give way, and three men were caught in a tunnel. One named Wyld, was extricated, and Fletcher and Houston are reported to have been buried in the debris. f A gang is working hard, endeavouring to effect a rescue. A later message states that' the three men are reported to be dead.

THE OVERSEER'S STORY. GIHBGRNE, Last Night. r Mr Wylks, foreman at Wainiake, states that he heard a thud, and on investigation found thai the mouth of the tunnel used for bringing the spoil from the excavation on the hillside had collapsed. About two ton of spoil had fallen, iand it was evident tjhat the three men at work in the tunnel were just passing below with a truokload of spoil when the fall occurred, completely burying them. ' Rescue Operations were promptly commenced, and the bodies of the three men recovered within twenty minutes. Frank Wyld had been only three days on the job, and the other two, D. Fletcher and H. Houston, eight days, the men having come from the Matawai railway works. Tte engineer is unable to account for the slip, considering that the timber work supporting the tunnel had been substantial.