SIX DEATHS IN TRAIN WRECK

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25428, 26 February 1948, Page 6

SIX DEATHS IN TRAIN WRECK

Express Leaves Line Near Seddon THIRTY-SEVEN INJURED IN HOSPITAL From Our Own Reporter BLENHEIM, February 25. Six persons were killed and 37 injured when the South Island Main Trunk express was derailed half way between Seddon and Blind River, about 19 miles south of Blenheirtf, at 11.32 a.m. to-day. The engine left the rails on a curve in a cutting, ploughing in to one side, and four of the Seven carriages were wrecked. Two were reduced to splintered and twisted debris, which was piled across the track and up against the side of the cutting. The two carriages behind them were badly shattered. All the casualties occurred in the second, third, and fourth carriages, and mainly in the second and third. The carriage immediately behind the engine followed it and finished alongside it.

When the carriages were wrecked, some passengers were thrown clear, but others were pinned in the debris. Between 40 and 50 rescue workers, including police, settlers, railwaymen, airmen, and uninjured passengers, worked strentiously to free the dead and injured.

The driver of the train, Mr J. Gurr, of Christchurch, was badly injured. He was taken front the cab of the engine aS it lay on its side in the cutting. The fireman, Mr E. Blackburn, of Kaikoura, was also injured, but escaped without help. It is possible that there are more bodies under the wreckage.

Doctors and nurses from Blenheim, Kaikoura, and the surrounding districts responded to the call for help. Ambulances were sent from Blenheim, Woodbourne aerodrome, Picton, and Kaikoura, but farm trucks, school buses and private cars also had to be used to take the dead and injured to Blenheim. There were tragic scenes in the first few minutes after the wreck. Families were Separated, husbands and wives were looking for each other, and frightened children were crying. Dazed passengers, some with injuries, wandered about Until help arrived. Later, relatives of passengers on the train arrived by car from Blenheim and Seddoft seeking iffeWs Of their relatives.

As ambulances, trucks and cars arrived with the injured, the scene at the Wairau Hospital, two miles out of Blenheim, teSembled war-time casualty Stations. Ambulance drivers, and volunteer drivers hurried stretcher cases to waiting stirgeons in operating rooms, while those with lesser injuries stood round. Still dazed, their heads, arms, or legs bandaged. Groups of relatives and friends waited for a long time at the hospital entrance for hews which could not be given to them.

Only three of the dead persons cotild be identified late tonight. The hospital staff worked at high pressure dealing with the injured passengers. Some of the 37 are known to be seriously injured, but the full extent of their injuries will not be known for some |ime.

When the express left Blenheim at 10.40 a.m. it consisted of five second class carriages, two first class carriages, a guard’s van, and a Z waggon for mails and luggage. There were only a few passengers in the first carriage. About two and a half miles south of Seddon the express entered a cutting on a slight downgrade approaching Blind River station. The engine passed a curve on the line and was entering the straight when it left the rails, tore the ends off several sleepers, and then toppled over on its side, partly burying itself in the earth on the lower side of the cutting.

The engine dragged the first carriage with it. The roof of the carriage was torn off, but otherwise it was not badly damaged The second and third carriages continued on the rails and went on for 30 yards. Then the second carriage shot off the rails at right angles and came to rest with the roof and one side wrecked. The third carriage appar« ently struck the back of the second as it passed and was reduced to a mass of splintered and tangled wreckage. Judging by the state of the second and third carriages, most of the dead and injured were travelling in them. Clouds of Steam Two first-class carriages at the back of the train remained on the rails and came to rest almost level with the engine. Practically no damage was done to these carriages, but some passengers were injured when they tried to escape clouds of steam from the engine,. The doors would not open, and they had to smash windows to get. out. ’ The carriage in front of these two had the right-hand side torn out. Just before the crash, the guard (Mr R. Parmenter, of Picton) heard a rumbling, and the train began to surge. He was pushed up against the front of the van. but escaped injury. Immediately after the crash he took a first-aid box 'and rushed to the front of the train to give help. “There was such a terrible shambles that there was little I could do except assist the injured passengers whom I could reach,” he said. Dead and injured passengers were thrown for yards around by the impact. The telephone wires were torn down when the train hit one of the iron poles beside the line, but the assistant guard (Mr L. Goodson) was able to telephone for help at the home of Mr J. Costello, about a mile away. He was sent by Mr Parmenter, with instructions to call for all available assistance from Blenheim. Four doctors and a number of nurses were sent from the Wairau ’Hospital at Blenheim, the Woodbourne aerodrome, Picton, and Kaikoura. Trucks and buses were commissioned from all round the Seddon district to assist in carrying the injured back to Blenheim. First Aid to Injured The first convoy of injured was on its way to hospital within an hour of the accident. Others of the injured, as they were released from the wreckage, were taken to a grassy flat beside the line at the end of the cutting, where doctors tended the most serious cases. Nurses and voluntary helpers looked after the otners. While Mr Parmenter and passengers on the train started to rescue those trapped in the wreckage, ,Mrs A. Smith. Seaview, who had got on at Seddon. and Mr Walter Black, M.L.C., of Nelson, climbed up to tne main road above the cutting to stop a passing motorist. The first .to come took news of the full extent of the disaster to Seddon, where telephone exchange operators had already put calls all round the district. Settlers took trucks with blankets and rugs to the scene, and tea and sugar were sent, so that passengers suffering from shock could be given cups of tea. There were tragic scenes as passengers, settlers, police, and railwaymen worked to release the trapped passengers, some of whom were pinned under the debris of the second and third carriages. Families that had been, travelling together were parted; frightened children were crying; and husbands and wives were seeking each other.

Ldggage, clothing, personal belongings, and wool with which women had been knitting when the train left the rails were strewn in all directions All the passengers from the smashed carriages were dazed. Some had broken arms or legs,, others cuts and abrasions. Those with minor injuries stood together waiting to be told what to dp, while stretcher cases were taken to the first available vehicle. Besides the ambulances there Were farm trucks, school buses, and private cars.

At first, stretchers were improvised with timber from the wreckage. Passengers suffering from shock were kept warm with blankets, and sheets were torn up and used for bandages. Gallons of tea were brewed at the Costello farmhouse and carried in milk cans.

Farm tractors and a crash vehicle irom Woodbourne arrived soon after the ambulances, and the rescue workers were assisted by two truck loads of airmen. Nearly all afternoon men toiled to free the dead and injured trom the wreckage and find if there were mor e bodies. While they worked, relatives of passengers on the train arrived from Blenheim and Seddon. seeking news, but they could be told nothing, as it was impossible then to identify the bodies. One woman, the last to be extricated, was pinned deep under the centre of the second carriage. Rescuers had to use all available tools before they could remove her, and she was found to be dead when pulled out of the wreckage. Two other passengers were trapped at the end of the carriage, pinned bv legs*. The end of the carriage nad to be jacked up before they could be taken out.

A relief train from Blenheim, which arrived soon after the accident, took the last and the guard’s van to Seddon. A break-down train from Christchurch, with a 40-ton crane, left a t 2 P- m - and arrived at the Cutting at 9.20 p.m. The break-down gang began work at 9.30 a.m., using the crane to clear away one of the carriages which was cut in half. Work was still in progress at 10.30 p.m. Passengers for the south who were able to travel were taken by bus to Blind River station,.where they joined the north-bound express from Christchurch. It arrived at about 3 p.m. and returned south about an hour later. North bound passengers were taken by bus from Blind River to Blenheim. Officials of the Railway Department, including the Assistant-General Manager (Mr J. Riesop). the Chief Mechanical Engineer (Mr P. R. Angus), and the Chief Engineer (Mr H. C. Lusty) were flown from Wellington to Blenheim and went straight to the scene of the accident