EXPRESS WRECKED

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 51, 24 November 1930, Page 11

EXPRESS WRECKED

Floods Cause Smash PLUNGE INTO RIVER Escape of Passengers CHAOTIC RESCUE SCENES Ry Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Rec. November 23, 5.5 p.m.) Paris, November 22. A train travelling from Paris to Nantes was derailed because of a subsidence on the track between Oudon and Ciennont-sur-Loire as a result of heavy rain. A signalman named Clermont rushed onto the line for the purpose of warning the driver of the oncoming express and was cut to pieces by the engine, which fell into the flooded river Loire. Two leading coaches overturned and slid completely into the river, and the driver was killed. Survivors are arriving in Nantes In taxis and ambulances. Rescuers were, handicapped by the darkness, the mud. and the flood waters. They were unable to reach the first coach, a first class one, and it was thought at first that not a single passenger in its escaped. The track was a tangled mass of rails, planks, and the twisted chassis of coaches, among which volunteers worked in the light of flares, seeking the injured. The smash occurred just before midnight. Later exploration of the submerged carriages disclosed that they were empty. How the occupants escaped is a mystery. Apparently the enginedriver was the only fatality, but many were taken to hospital.