RAILWAY DISASTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 192, 15 August 1925, Page 9

RAILWAY DISASTER.

FRENCH TRAIN DERAILED. TWELVE PEOPLE KILLED. EIGHTY OTHERS INJURED. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.! (Received 12 noon.) PARIS, August 14. A passenger train from Paris ran off the rails as it was entering the Amiens station owing to the excessive speed at which it was travelling.

Many of the coaches were overturned, burying the victims in the debris. One telescoped car was burned.

Twelve of the passengers were killed and eighty were injured.

It is stated that the wrecked train entered the station at a speed of 56 miles an hour instead of the übubl rate of 26 miles an hour. The brakes were then applied too suddenly.

The driver has been arrested.

The train was unusually full of holi-day-makers, mostly third class passengers going to the seaside. It was due to stop at Amiens, but, entering the station at full speed, the engine jumped the points and dragged off the luggage van "and seven third class coaches, which were telescoped and splintered. ,

Heartrending cries emerged from the smashed timber and the tangled ironwork, from which the dead were extricated.

- The horror of the scene was increased when three other coaches caught fire. The flames were extinguished, thanks to the splendid work of the fire brigades. No British passengers were among those killed, but throe were among the injured.

M. Briand, who was returning from London, was held up in consequence of the accident, causing rumours in Paris that it was his train that was derailed. Actually M. Briand's train arrived a few minutes after the disaster, and was delayed outside Amiens while the casualties were removed.

The wreckage waa svibsequently hauled slowly on to another track at Amiens station, showing the horrified passengers the results, of one of the worst accidents in France for a long time. Over 50 persons have been killed this year and 150 injured in French train wrecks. The disasters are attributed to inferior rolling stock.—(A. and N.Z.)

A DRIVER'S CONDITION. SCENES AT THE WRECK. (Received 1.30 p.m.) PARIS, August 14. It transpires that while attending the Foreign Office, M. Thierry (principal private secretary to M. Briand) discovered that a wallet containing £500 and important documents was missing. So far not a trace has been obtained.—■ (Beuter.)