News Story

Fatal Underground Explosion

4 June 2011

Rescue workers, with special stretchers, assemble at the tunnel entrance

One worker is dead and 6 others injured, some seriously, following the early-morning explosion in a tunnel near Mt Smart Road, Onehunga. The team was installing pipes for Watercare Services, part of a long-term project when an explosion, believed caused by gas, ripped through the excavations. Local residents thought it was an earthquake. Witnesses say clouds of debris blasted from the tunnel, including workers