Alphonce F. Grotkowski helped to rescue Gilbert Mosses from a rock fall, Salmo, British Columbia, April 18, 1969. In a lead and zinc, mine, a fall of ore knocked Mosses, 53, mine mucker bass, into a loading chute and covered him except for his head and one arm with rocks of various sizes. He was injured severely but remained conscious. Grotkowski, 33, miner, and others gathered at the scene. After an opening was cut in the chute’s bulkhead and a clearing made in the rocks piled against it, two mine shift bosses crawled into the chute and placed shoring. Others positioned timbers at the opposite end of the chute. At times during the rescue efforts, the mine manager supervising the work checked the situation in the chute, and a first-aid man and a physician ministered to Mosses. In limited space in the chute, Grotkowski, five other miners, a mine loader operator, and the two mine shift bosses worked in teams to remove the rocks from Mosses. Because some had to be chipped away, a drill was used; and whenever the vibrations loosened some of the shoring it was reset. After the rock-removing teams had worked a total of three and half-hours, Mosses was freed. He recovered from his injuries.
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