Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-07-26
GAS EXPL0DES
AND WORKMEh.
ARE TRAPPED
twenty-five Dead and Six 9th
ers Dying Is Toll of Tunnel
Disaster II. Z
MEMBERS OF RESCUE !
PARTIES GIVE UP LIVES
Entombed Men Are Believed To
Be Buried Under Tons Of =
Mud and Debris : 4


Cleveland, O., July 25.--Twenty-two
men are dead and six others dying 40
the result of an explosion Of gas In
a waterworks tunnel five miles from
shore under Lake Erie last night. At
1915 a. m. ten bodies had been
brought out. 1t is believed tho men
remaining in the tunnel are buried un:
der tons of mud.
The dead include workmen who
were trapped in the tunnel when the
gas exploded and members of the two
rescue parties, who attempted to save
the men first trapped.
OF the dead. eleven were In the
force trapped by the explosion. None
of these escaped. IS @
The first rescue party consisted of
seven men. Four Of them perished
and three were saved. f1 "A'
The second rescue party comprised
eleven men. Six lost their lives and
FIVE escaped. tS
The first rescue party accomplished
nothing. The second saved one Of
the first relief party. alt' s'
Rescue Attempts Absndo0sd. q
Federal ofncials inyestisating h Ne
tunnel disaster, which cost twenty-five
lives late this afternoon, ordered Ill
attempts to reach the men imprisoned
in the tunnel abandoned until soms-
time tomorrow. This action was tax.
en- as tests Of the gas in the tunnel.
through which the rescuers had to
pass, showed that it is highly exploG.
i've and the officials feared a second
explosion. An attempt will be made
to cut out the gas so that the work
of recovering the bodies may progress.
All hope that any of the twelve men
trapped in the tunnel are alive has
been abandoned. The bodies Of those
of the members of two rescue parties.
which tried to reach the entombed
men, but were themselves cut of to
the deadly gas, are in the morgue
The eight that were injured, also
members Of the rescue parties, will
recover
Will Investigate Cause.
Four investigations-city, county,
state and federal-will be started to.
morrow to determine the cause of tho
gas explosion near the fve-mile crib
end of the tunnel last night, which On.
tombed the twelve men and released
the gas which overcame the two res.
cue parties. E. &
The lack Of safety devices, slch as
gas helmets and pulmotors At tho
shore end of the 16,O00-foot tunnel
also will be investigated.
The frantic efforts of Gustof c. Van
Dusen, superintendent of water works
construction, and the members of tho
two rescue parties, to reach the men
imprisoned by the explosion without
gas helmets or pulmotors resulted In
the increase in the death list.
This afternoon q search rescue
party equipped with the safety devic-
es entered the tunnel and rescued the
rescuers, ten of whom were dead.
Van Dusen was among the rescuers
who were revived. 1t is claimed, by
members of the third rescue party
that the dozen tunnel workers bodies
are entombed in seven or eight ,feet
of debris and that it will be the work
of at least two days to dig them out.
The federal and city omcials. % well
as the members of the third rescue
party. left the crib late this afternoon.
1t being decided to abandon work un-
til sometime tomorrow. It is declared
impossible that the twelve men could
be alive. According to the federal In
vestigators, the electric wiring IN tho
tunnel was faulty,