TRAIN HITS LORRY

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 42, 13 November 1936, Page 11

TRAIN HITS LORRY

Level Crossing Smash at

Sockburn

MAN FATALLY INJURED

By Telegraph—Frees Association.

Christchurch, November 12.

The scene of some of the most shocking accidents that have occurred close to the city, Sockburn railway crossing, to-day added still one more to its tally; father and son being injured, the former fatally, when the Little River train, outward bound from the city, smashed into a lorry on the crossing at 8.11 a.m. The father, Henry Williams, aged 37, of 64 Tennyson Street, suffered terrible head injuries and died at 11.15 to-night. The son, Bryan Williams, who is five years of age, suffered bad cuts and bruises, but his condition is not serious. Both were admitted to the Christchurch Public Hospital. There was a terrific impact, the engine smashing into the forepart of the truck and swinging the heavy vehicle, which was laden with a tank containing two tons of tar, completely round and scattering broken pieces of wood and steel over a wide area. The front wheels, axle and springs of the lorry were torn off and sent hurtling through the air like a giant double-headed missile nearly thirty yards from the crossing. This Hying combination of rubber and steel, which weighed over a quarter of a ton. crashed into a shop veranda post and snapped it off, and with its flight deflected tore down a large portion of a picket fence adjacent to the shop. It came to rest when it struck a tree. The truck, which had turned out of Smith Street to the crossing on the main road, was struck on the driving side. Williams was thrown out as the truck was slewn violently round and hit the paved road some yards from the crossing. The boy was also thrown out, and had a miraculous escape from serious injury.