RAILWAY DISASTER.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 6, 8 January 1912, Page 9

RAILWAY DISASTER.

TRAIN FALLS THROUGH A BEIDGE.

FIFTY PEOPLE DROWNED. The shocking news was received in Paris towards the end of December (as briefly recorded in the cables) of another great railway disaster on the State line at Thouet, between Angers and Poitiers, wheie part of a train plunged into the swollen Btreaui. The catastrophe recalk that of Ponte de-Co in 1907, also ou tho State tine, when a bridge gave way as a train was crossing, and twentyseven persons were drowned. The first reports conveyed the almost incredible news that the bridge had been carried away by a llood during the night, that nobody was aware of it at seven o'clock next morning, and that a traiu with about 100 passengers ran full tilt over the bridgeless chasm inio the stream. Fortunately the horror is not so great.' The accident happened about a mile an^ a half from Baumur, at a little place called Brio-eur-Thouet, where there is a bridge over a stream called Le Thouet. A train drawn by two engines, and with about one hundred passengers and some goods vans, left Angers for Poitiers at 5.2 in the morning, and reached Mon--treuil-Bellay at 7.24. The bridge over I tho stream is only a short distance away, and is- about 160 ft long. Recent raias had converted the stream into a raging torrent, and probably undermined the bridge. The flood was very high all night, and when the train arrived tho bridge suddenly gave way. There was a great crash. The engines, the tenders, and all the vans and nearly all the passenger cars, plunged into the stream below. For some time it was impossible to obtain any information in Paris. The managers of the State line merely admitted that a train had derailed near Montreuil-Bellay, and that come persons were_ injured ; but telegrams soon cam* pouring in confirming the fiist news. One- despatch said that only the three last cars had escaped from falling into the stream. Warning was sent at onca to neighbouring stations and to the nearest authorities, and rescue- parties were organised. EFFECTS OF THE FLOOD. By noon ten corpses had been taken out of the stream. They had been carried down by the strong current for some distance, and were discovered at various places. The despatch adds that the bridge yielded to the pressure of" the flood as the engines arrived." The number that probably perished is about fifty. The first reports hinted that there might be sixty or eighty, but this seems unlikely. A salvage engine and train were despatched at once from Angers, but the salvage operations were particularly diicult. \ The spot seems to. have been a very isolated one, and no boats were to be had near by. The country round about was flooded, and this added to the difficulties of the work of rescue. Assistance wa6 also sent from Tours/ but hours passed before any effective help could be given. Little by little, however, all the country people round arrived, and about 1000 of them were soon in the vicinity of the scene. The rescue operations were carried on iv the midst- of a pouring rain. Eleven passengers were helped out of a perilous position in one of the cars in mid-stream, but np means were at hand to convey them to safety on the banks. The current in the stream was like a raging torrent. The rescuer* made superhuman efforts to approach the cars that were lying in the stream, and several of them risked their .iives. One of them, a well-known local tradesman, 1 M. Bouillet, was actually carried away by the flood, and lost his life while trying to save others. Two small boats which were brought down the stream were almost dashed to pieces agaiust the pil- J lars of the bridge. One of the escaped ' passengers, a chauffeur from Thpuars, remained in a desperate position in the stream for two hours, and held himself fast with both j hands to the branches of a bush before he could be rescued. He was. conveyed immediately to the Saumur Hospital. An attempt was made to construct a sort of raft with empty casks, but it failed. Meanwhile a number of passengers who had been able to crawl > out of the cars were calling for help. They' clung to the roofs and windows or caught hold of the branches of the shrubs along the banks. - • ' RESCUERS HELPLESS. The spectacle was a harrowing one. From either side hundreds of willing men were helpless to approach the unfortunate victims, and one by one they could be seen swooning ana dropping away. They were immediately carried' down etream, by the flood, and most of them* were drowned. Several companies of soldiers then arrived, and, together, with the firemen of Montreuil, they managed at last to rescue the remaining passengers, who had been hours in the water. Among the drowned were three nuns from a convent at Yandelay and a governess from Puy-de-Dome. The bridge, it appears, consisted of several arches. It yielded as soon as the two locomotives were on the first arch, and though the train was not going at a very great speed all the vans and passenger cars, with the exception of the last three trucks, plunged' into the stream. There were one first and two second-class cars on the train. As it left at a very early hour from Angers it was not so crowded as it might have heen later in the day. This- new disaster on the State line has made a^ very painful impression in Paris, and * the whole country round about Saumur was in a state of excitement. Towards the end it^is said that some 10,000 persons witnessed the work of rescue.