Accidents / Disasters / Fires / Floods / Tragedies

Jun. 29, 1966 - Injured Boy Jokes In Death Trap; 18-year old Malcolm Kerr injected himself with morphine last night as firemen toiled to free him from hundreds of tons of collapsed seafolding. Maleolm of Parliament Hill, Hampstead, was rescued after being trapped for six hours under seaffolding, which crashed to the ground inside a cooling tower at West Ham power station. Both his legs were broken. Maleolm, who is studying at a technical college, had been working in the tower for only two days. He joked with rescuers trying to free him. Dr. Keith Giles, aged 36, lowered a morphia syringe through 12ft. of twisted seaffolding and told Maleolm how to use it. Later firemen burned Maleolm's clothes and legs when they had to use oxy9aeetylene torches to out away seaffolding. Twenty yards away was a dead workmate - 18year-old Peter Croft, from Nairobi, Kenya. Maleolm and Peter were among five workers caught in the collapse. The three others were rescued earlier and taken to hospital. Photo shows Tenderly firemen lift Maleolm to safety after his six-hour ordeal. (Credit Image: © Keystone Pictures USA/ZUMAPRESS.com)