TIDAL WAVE IN INDIA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 47, 5 December 1945, Page 3

TIDAL WAVE IN INDIA

VILLAGES WASHED AWAY (Rec. 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 4. Four thousand persons are believed to have been killed and 40,000 rendered homeless when several villages were washed away in a tidal wave which struck a 100 mile coastal belt west of Karachi on November 28, according to a party of Congress relief workers who have just returned to Karachi from the scene.

The report of the relief party on the tidal wave stated that two villages were completely wiped out and seven others suffered heavy casualties. One vanished with the hill on which it was standing. The coast is now strewn with wreckage, with corpses being washed up daily. It was dark when the tidal wave struck on November 28, which added horror to the confusion. Thousands of pebbles were shot into the air like volleys of bullets. The villagers snatched tree-tops'as they were tossed about in a mighty rush of water. Some who took refuge in boats and rafts were swept far out to sea. Many were killed while asleep. An eye-witness said that the first sign was when the sky in the direction of the sea changed to a reddish colour about 3 a.m., after which a column of fire shot up from the water. There was a deafening crash and, before the alarm could be given, a gigantic wave rushed toward the coast.