CITY OF ROME.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 256, 29 October 1929, Page 7

CITY OF ROME.

LOST INDIAN AIR LINER

Derelict Located But Storm

Prevents Salvage.

ITALIANS' BRAVERY PRAISED

(British Official Wireless.)

(Received 11.30 a.m.)

RUGBY, October 28.

Reports from Spezia state that the City of Rome, the Indian air liner lost in the Gulf of Genoa, is believed to have been located in the water about eighteen, miles off the Italian coast between Spezia and Pareggio.

Salvage attempts, however, have so far been prevented by the gale.

The bodies of Pilot Birt, Engineer Pembroke and Wireless Operator Stone have been accounted for. The body of a passenger has also been found. It appears that the crew climbed out on the wings and sent distress signals but were washed off. The passengers were drowned in the cabin.

The Post Office states that the whole Indian and Egyptian mails are believed to have been lost with the City oi Rome.

Imperial Airways, Ltd., has no information as to why the captain of the Italian tug Famiglia did not take off the City of Rome's passengers.

The British Consul at Spezia, however, pays a high tribute to the Italians for the efforts they made to save the air liner in the face of terrible seas. The captain of the Fttmiglia, he savs, made a gallant fight against the elements, as she is only a tiny craft.

When the ropes parted the Famiglia stood bv the drifting flying boat for an hour, during which the crew tried to get alongside. It was only when it was seen that the City of Rome was likely to sink that the Famiglia was taken back at full speed to the harbour for more help.

Mr. Turney, one of the four passengers on the lost air liner, was a Customs officer at Croydon aerodrome. He was returning from a holiday at Athens.

Commander Birt was 27 years old. He had been engaged in aviation since 1924, and had served in the Royal Air Force until March last.

A message from Delhi states that it is revealed that the personal effects of Captain Woodbridge, pilot of a 'plane which crashed and was burned at Jask, Persia, in September, were packed on the ill-fated City of Rome. The Captain's Story. In an interview the captain of the Famiglia said the terrific sea made it impossible to approach closer than ten yards to the City of Rome. His own situation was dangerous, as the ship was on the point of capsizing. Furthermore, 100 empty wine barrels on the deck broke adrift and rolled about endangering the lives of his men. The noise of the wind and waves was so great that he did not hear the voices from the seaplane. He thought the three men on the wings were the full complement. One tow line which he fastened to the 'plane was new, and after towing for fifteen minutes it parted.

"I believe the tows broke owing to the fact that the seaplane sprung a leak and was waterlogged," he said. "We searched in the darkness for hours but found no sign of anything or anybody and when I returned to the scene aboard a destroyer the air liner was gone." Italian experts believe that one of the engines failed and the seaplane was headed for land but was unable to make progress with two engines and was forced into the sea.

The latest message from Spezia states that destroyers, tugs and aeroplanes, after a strenuous search, have returned. There was no trace of any wreckage or of any other bodies from the ill-fated air liner.

STORM IN CHANNEL. PARIS LINER FORCED DOWN. (Received 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 28. An Imperial Airways liner from Paris struck a severe gale in the Channel and was forced to land in the emergency aerodrome in Kent.