BLOWN INTO RIGGING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10279, 10 December 1924, Page 5

BLOWN INTO RIGGING.

DREADFUL SEA STORYi

FAINTING WOMEN ABANDONED.

HEROISM OF TWO PRIESTS.

(Per Press Association— Copyright.) (Received This Day, 2.15 p.m.) CAPETOWN, December 9. Port Louis (Mauritius) telegrams give thrilling details of the burning of the steamer Cigale. ' - Fire broke out in a hold and explosions followed, injuring several passengers and causing a panic in which others jumped into the sea. Captain Berester had hardly restored order and got the fire under control before a boiler exploded. Only one lifeboat was now intact, and when the order was given to abandon the ship, the women and children were placed in the boat, which was rowed to St. Denis in the French island of Reunion. Seventeen other passengers and some of the crew jumped on to the captain's laft and were rescued later, but 23 who "k were on another raft, are still missing. I Later.

Further details of the burning steamer Cigale, 55 miles from Mauritius, show that there were 57 persons on board. The cargo of motor spirit caught fire. A Chinese passenger was blown up into the rigging, his clothing ablaze, and before help could reach him he was burned to death. A panio followed and there was a wild rush to the boats. Women died ;of fright. Two full Tboats abandoned the ship, leaving the captain and officers and fainting women passengers on the blazing vessel. After an hour's torturing work the French sailors subdued the flames, but the ship began to sink. The, boats then returned, and a timber raft was constructed. The ship sank, rand 33 were drowned. Two old Roman Catholic nriests, who were offered seats in the boats, refused," saying: '"We have no families." One was subsequently rescued after many hours' buffeting on a raft six feet square. The ;boate -eventually reached Reunion,

[The Cigale (ex-New Zealand, ex Sir Howard Elphinstone) was a small steamer of 310 tons. She was built in 1886 in England and was owned in Port Louis.]

COLLISION IN IRISH SEA. LONDON, Dec. 8. "* The steamer Noshera, belonging to the British India Company, collided with the steamer Latchmere in the Irish Sea. . Neither was seriously damaged, but the Noshera returned to Liverpool. She had some plates scratched below the waterline.

[The Noshera is a.twin-screw steamer of 7920 tons and! was built in 1919 at Belfast. The Latchmere does not appear in the latest issue of "Lloyd's Register:"]

JAPANESE STEAMER.

ABANDONED IN CHINA SEA. <<"Sun.") (Received This Day, 10.25 a.m.) PEKING, December 9. A* Japanese freighter of 6,000 tons was abandoned afire near Swatow. The officers and crew were rescued by another Japanese