DISASTER IN ITALY

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 5, 30 September 1922, Page 5

DISASTER IN ITALY

POWDER FACTORY EXPLODES SEVERAL VILLAGES BADLY DAMAGED HEAVY DEATH ROLL By tbmgbaph — press association. —COPYRIGHT. Rome, September 28. During a violent thunderstorm near Spezia, lightning exploded a powder factory. It is feared that many workers have perished. Several hundred were taken to hospital. A number <jf buildings over a wide area in the vicinity was also destroyed.-—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. (Rec. September 29, 5.5 p.m.) Roma, September 28. Forty dead, including an army marshal, have been recovered at Spezia as a result of the explosion at Fort Falconara. The villages of San Terenzo and Pi belli. were greatly damaged.— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. (Rec. September 30, 0.40 a..rn.) Rome, Sentember 29. Details from Spezia show that the Falconara explosion was more disastrous than at first expected. One hundred and forty-four bodies have been recovered in San Terenzo alone. The number of dead in other villages is still unknown. The explosion was due to a short circuit, not lightning. Fifteen huridred tons of explosives were affected. The devastation covered a radius of seven miles. The villages of Larici, Pugliala, Telaro, Puttello, and Muggiano were badly damaged. Some reports state that hundreds of people lost their lives, but a moderate estimate is two hundred killed and five hundred wounded. Immediately after the flash great flames were seen to leap up, and the whole magazine seemed to go up in one roar. The workers rushed in pa-sic from the fort, but before they reached safety the explosion c*me. Many’ were killed by the concussion and others by falling debris, especially women and children, who were buried when the houses collapsed. Ships in Spezia. harbour were tossed about by the giant waves. Troops, civilians, and Fascist! volunteered for rescue work, but darkness and the raging storm hampered them. Wounded were soon arriving in large numbers at Spezia hospital. Army rescuers have gone to San Terenzo to assist in clearing away the ruins.— Aus-N.Z. Cable Assn.