QUEENSLAND DISASTER

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 135, 10 June 1925, Page 8

QUEENSLAND DISASTER

HEARTRENDING SCENES.

MUCH AWFUL SUFFERING. PASSENGERS -WORK MANFULLY THE CRIES OE THE INJURED. (By Cable.—rress Association. —Copyright.) (Received 2.30 p.m.) BRISBANE, this day. Additions to the injured list bring the total to fifty-five, though many are not of a serious nature. The permanent way bridge is badly damaged, and the track shows that the sleepers are cut and splintered for li miles before reaching the creek, for which distance some of the derailed carriages must have dragged before they took the plunge. The disaster was rendered more terrible by the scenes of suffering witnessed in the fitful light of the lamps before adequato assistance arrived. One lady passenger was brought out from a carriage with her infant clasped to her breast, both dead. Another woman held a dead child in her arms and she herself was badly injured. One child of fifteen months crawled out of a mass of wreckage slightly injured on the head. Passengers who escaped rendered splendid service, rescuing and attending to the victims amid appalling scenes. The carriages were standing on their heads with the wheels . m the air. Rescuers carried on the work among- the distressing cries and groans of the injured nnd those pinned to the wreckage. When the injured had been assembled they were placed in the undamaged portion of the train and rushed to Gympie Hospital. Amongst the passengers were the Phillip Lytton Dramatic Company, con-' sisting of eighteen ladies and gentlemen. All luckily escaped injury excepting Miss Ethel Page, whose hurt is not serious. Mr. H. Hartley, a member of the Legislative Assembly, who was aboard, escaped scathless. Many terrible scenes of suffering were witnessed by early arrivals. Passengers from the front portion of the train and ambulance men did heroic work in removing the injured. Jacks had frequently to be used to release the injured. Heavy beams had to be moved and passages cut to get nt the bodies. There were many narrow escapes. One man was free except for his feet. The woodwork had to be cut to release him. Another was thrown through a window and fell 20ft unhurt. Mrs. Dean, who was killed, was married in Brisbane on the previous day. and was on her honeymoon. —A. and N.Z.