A LIFT ACCIDENT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2723, 31 January 1910, Page 5

A LIFT ACCIDENT.

A FALL OF FIFTY FEET.

ri’icit Puksh Association.! CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 30

About 4.30 o’clock this afternoon a serious accident occurred at the United Service Hotel, by which a. young married man, named Frederick Semb, employed as engineer and electrician at the hotel, sustained grave injuries. The affair occurred in the servants’ portion of the. hotel, where there is an electrical lift for the conveyance of goods from the basement to, the kitchen, which is situated on the fourth storey. Semb was on the uppermost ■flat talking to his wife, and required to use the lift which was then in the basement. He opened the- collapsible door, and put his arm round to pull the wire rope, which communicates with the machinery driving the lift, for tlxj purpose of bringing the lift up. By some mischance his foot slipped on the edge of the open lift well, and the unfortunate man was hurled down the shaft, a distance of fully 50 feet, and fell on to the heavy timber and iron framing on top of the lift. One of the men attending to the boiler heard the crash, and hurried to ascertain what had happened. In' the meantime Mrs. Semb rushed downstairs. By the time assistance was at band, Semb, who was bleeding profusely from the head and was apparently in an unconscious condition, was just falling from the framing on to the floor of the lift. He was taken down and sent to thei hospital in an ambulance.