SCENES AT WRECK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 304, 26 December 1933, Page 7

SCENES AT WRECK.

Cries of Wouiided Recall Worst Days of War. SAILOR SAVES 13 LIVES. PARIS, December 25. The scenes at the wreck at Lagny of the two Paris-Strasbourg expresses recalled the worst days of the war when the wounded arrived from the front. The cries from the wreckage of the six telescoped carriages, in which scores were imprisoned and gravely injured, rent the air for hours, while gallant rescuers and soldiers were trying to reacli thetn by the aid of flares and bonfires. A sailor, Jean Aricel, was the hero of the tragedy; He led a party of rescuers and worked unceasingly for 12 hours. By removing wreckage he personally saved 13 lives. The noise of the impact brought helpers to the scene from considerable distances. Wood fires were lighted at the side of the railway track. Bodies awaiting transport and Christmas presents were scattered everywhere. Human limbs were mixed in the debris. Intense cold and frost added to the sufferings of the injured and hampered the Work' of the rescuers. Among the debris was found a quantity of new toys belonging to children from a boarding school who were caught in the telescoped carriages. They were going home for the Christmas holidays; also a number of skis owned by the victims who were going to the winter sports in the Alsatian Alps. The sisters of the Lagny Hospital, after caring for hundreds of victims throughout the night, were just as tender and patient yesterday as when the ordeal began. One was followed by an orphaned boy with a bandaged head, who seemed unable to leave her. The fact that the disaster had occurred was not known in Paris until after midnight. At Berlin all broadcast stations made sympathetic reference to the tragedy. Traffic observed three. minutes' silence. A Minister condoled with the French Ambassador. i