500 FEARED LOST IN FREJUS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29070, 5 December 1959, Page 13

500 FEARED LOST IN FREJUS

Mass Burials Begin In Wrecked Town

(N.Z Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) FREJUS (French Riviera), Dec. 4. The first 90 victims of the Frejus flood disaster in the south of France are being buried in Frejus today. The mass ceremony took place little more than 36 hours after the 200 ft high Malpasset dam, about four miles above the town, gave way 7, releasing a death-dealing wall of water upon the valley below.

As the floods drained slowly away into the sea, leaving behind a mass of mud and ruin, rescue teams with helicopters set out for the second day to search for the remaining bodies, which are scattered over a wide area.

At present, only an estimate of the casualties is possible, but an official of the French Red Cross, Mr Alain Gabriel, said during the night that the number killed was not expected to be below 500.

Many outlying farms have been completely razed, he said.

More than 160 bodies were laid out in the Frejus chapel and in a school which the Red Cross requisitioned to care for both the dead and the living for whom there was no more room in the hospital. Altogether, 270 known dead have already been counted. It is feared that many victims were swept into the Mediterranean by the vast wave of water from the dam, and naval craft are searching for possible survivors.

Throughout yesterday, a steady convoy of lorries converted into hearses brought the dead to the school. Red Cross officials were besieged by relatives and friends who had rushed to the scene, some of them from abroad. In many cases, the officials were unable to help them, for little more than half the casualties have so far been identified

By late last night. 80 families had reported that one or more of their family was missing or dead The town was quiet as exhausted residents went to bed in homes which escaped the floods, or with friends living in higher regions.

Dozens of people slept in improvised dormitories in school classrooms.

Municipal officials estimated that nearly half the population has suffered losses of life, or property. In the Reyran river valley, almost all the houses had been destroyed, and 80 to 90 per cent, of France's choicest fruit trees were swept away. The weather, which yesterday changed to sunshine, was threatening to tqrn to rain again today. With most of the roads

still blocked by mud, the operations still depend heavily on the helicopters. In Frejus, electricity was restored last night, but communications with the outside world are still only makeshift and there is no running water. The rescue force now in the disaster area has reached a strength of about 10,000 men, including 5000 troops, 3000 sailors and almost the entire gendarmerie of the Var department. Three destroyers, a naval transport and a naval tug joined the aircraft-carrier La Narette in the bay of St. Raphael, where the carrier was used as a helicopter base.

President de Gaulle last night issued an appeal for “national solidarity” and aid to the victims. The mortuary of Frejus told of the horror that hit the town, British United Press said. There in the chapel and in emergency buildings nearby—including a boys’ school—which were taken over as annexes, the bodies of men, women and children were lined up side by side. Most of the bodies were naked, their clothes torn off as the flood waters washed them from their beds and rolled them along the ground. Everywhere there were sobs

and wails of women as anxious relatives came to the mortuary to look for their kin—and found them. Family’s Survival A Frejus railwayman, Sauveur Gil, gave Reuters this graphic picture of how he, his wife and 83-year-old mother-in-law escaped death by inches. “We were fast asleep. Suddenly there was a terrible noise. I guessed at once what it was. ‘Quick,’ I called to my wife Suzanne, ‘the dam has burst.’ “As I spoke the door caved in. I got up. There was water up to my knees. I tried to get into the kitchen and found myself in water up to the neck.” Mr Gil continued: “My wife rushed to find her mother. All three of us huddled on the bed. It was like a raft. We floated quickly to within six inches of the ceiling as the waters rose.

“We gave ourselves up for lost. We could not move my old mother-in-law, so we decided to die together. “We prayed, I do not know for how long. The tiny breathing space became insufferable. Then suddenly, when I flashed my pocket lamp, I saw the water level was slowly going down. Soon afterwards we were rescued,” he said.