Andrew Burgess 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 boss, 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. Burgess, 63, mine shift boss, and others gathered at the scene. After an opening was cut in the chute’s bulkhead, a clearing was made in the rocks piled against it. Burgess and another mine shift boss then 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, Burgess, the other mine shift boss, a mine loader operator, and six miners 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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