ALARM FELT BY PASSENGERS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21909, 9 October 1936, Page 12

ALARM FELT BY PASSENGERS

WIND PRESSURE' ON CAR

GOOD WORK OF GUARD AND DRIVER

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.)

WELLINGTON, October 8.

“I had an uneasy* feeling that an accident would happen/’ said Miss Marjorie McKay, of Masterton, who was one of the passengers in the Mamari. “I was gripping on to the side of the car. After we left Featherston, when the wind hit us, we heeled over gradually, and then I felt the whole carriage lift. There was no jolt before we hit the ground. As soon as we landed at the side of the railway line I had a terrible fear that the rail-car would catch fire. The smell of petrol fumes was almost suffocating.”

Miss McKay and several other passengers praised the coolness of the guard and driver, who, although hurt, directed rescue operations.

“It was a terrible experience,” said a passenger in the rail-car. “The car was lurching badly all the way along the plain and the driver slowed down because of the high wind. We were going about 42 miles an hour when the car left the rails. Another passenger said the car heaved off the line and went over towards the road, sliding down the bank after it struck on its. side.

“The severity of the shock when the car was derailed is shown by the fact that one woman was thrown three seats ahead, and halfway out of the window,” she said. “There were some children in the car, and their screams increased the general confusion. One woman fainted. The confusion was naturally great, but apart from the cries of the children and the injured, there was nothing to suggest panic.”

SEVERITY OF GALE

(FItKSa ASSOCIATION TKCEGHAM.) WELLINGTON, October 8. Mr G. T. Cole, who had resided near the scene of the accident for 16 years, said he had 'never experienced a worse gale than that which raged this morning. It was so bad that he had not allowed his children to go to school, and he considered it worse than the hurricane of two years ago which did so much damage in Wairarcpa. He saw the railcar coming along the line and was wondering how it could stand up to the blow when the accident happened.