FERRY STEAMER SINKS IN COLLISION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 256, 10 August 1934, Page 5

FERRY STEAMER SINKS IN COLLISION

ACCIDENT ON NEWCASTLE HARBOUR AT NIGHT WOMAN BELIEVED DROWNED; ONE MISSING. BOAT GOES DOWN A MINUTE AFTER BEING STRUCK. PROMPT RESCUE OF ABOUT FORTY PASSENGERS. » - m (United Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day 11.5 a.m.) Hftl SYDNEY, This Day. The ferry steamer Bluebell, plying between Newcastle and Stockton, sank a minute after a collision with the steamer Warwaneen on Newcastle harbour late last night. The passengers of the Bluebell numbered about forty. One woman, Mrs Kingsmill, is believed to have been drowned, and another, Mrs Hardy, is missing. The rescue work was so swift that the police think everyone else was saved. The passengers on the upper deck of the Bluebell saved themselves by jumping aboard the Warwaneen, but about thirty on the lower deck of the Bluebell were thrown into the water. There were scenes of panic and confusion on the ferry, on which the lights had gone out. People in; the cabin smashed the windows and escaped. The vessels staved locked together for about 30 seconds after the impact, but when separated, the Bluebell, which apparently was badly healed, lurched oyer and sank. Rescue launches were quickly on the scene, lifting dazed people aboard. • A man and a child were admitted to hospital, the latter being in a serious condition. Nineteen others were treated for shock and immersion.