EIGHT PEOPLE KILLED.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 306, 26 December 1924, Page 5

EIGHT PEOPLE KILLED.

I . AIR EXPRESS CRASHES. " CATASTROPHE AT CROYD<»N. MACHINE BURSTS INT6 FLAMES i (By Cable. — Association.—Copyright.) (Received 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, December 25. The London to Paris air express had just started from the Croydon aerodrome when it crashed about half-a-mile from the starting point nose downward, the front of tbe engine burying itself in the ground. Kight prisons were killed, and not nine, us at lirst reported. This included the "plane's crew. The petrol tank burst, and the petrol cuugiit lire. The flames quickly spread to tin' liody and wings. A i-ivud rushed to the spot to help, lint tne liPiit was so intense that no one was able to approach the 'plane, which was reduced to ashes within ten minutes. The machine, a de Haviland (430-h.p.), belonged to the Imperial Airways, Ltd., a combination of British firms formed early in the year to work air transport services witn the Continent. When the tiro broke out all the passengers were probably unconscious, if not dead. * , Tin- tail of the "plane tilted up so high that all were thrown in a heap with great force. The marks and injuries which the bodies bear cannot be accounted for otherwise.—(A. and X.Z. Cable.) NO CHANCE FOR PASSENGERS. SOME HEROIC ATTEMPTS. GHASTLY SPECTACLES. (Received 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, December 25. The air express had only just risen from the aerodrome when it seemed to stall, and as it was too low to recover it crashed heavily on Russell Hill, at Purley, nose foremost. Directly the machine touched the ground tile petrol tank appeared to explode. The flames rose sixty feet in height, and in a few minutes the whole wreckage was ablaze. From the beginning there was no hope of rescuing the unfortunate passengers inside, though the tire brigade reached the scene within six minutes. The first rescuers were a number of workmen from a neighbouring building, who rushed up with axes. One named Pooley, with a seaffolder's hammer, tried to split the cabin open in order to get at the passengers, but with the strong wind blowing the workmen were driven back. The rescuers saw the pilot lying on his face with his body stretched across the engine. They tried to get a rope over his leg to drag the body away, but the 'heat prevented them, though they tried over and over again. The rescuers finally got a rope through under the carriage, and as they pulled it a horrible spectacle waa disclosed. When the crash came the passengers had evidently been flung into the forefront of the cabin with such violence that they were seriously injured. Consequently it is hoped they were not conscious when the fire broke out. When the undercarriage was dragged away seven bodies were seen 'huddled together. As the bottom of the cabin burned and fell out the bodies of two women and four men dropped to the ground. Their clothes were burned off, and the bodies blackened. One woman appeared just alive, though terribly burned from the waist upward, but was dead before the doctor arrived. She seemed to be hugging some parcel, possibly a Christmas gift. Two of the dead men were named Sproston, well known in the motor world. Another was a youth named Luxemberg, who recently left St. Paul's school, and who wanted his holidays in Paris. Captain Stewart, the pilot, had a fine war record. He won the Military Cross and bar. He had the reputation of being a highly-skilled pilot. The machine was tested just before its departure, and seemed in perfect condition.—A. and S.Z.