SCENES OF HAVOC

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 69, 23 March 1931, Page 9

SCENES OF HAVOC

ENGINE OVERTURNS

EVERY CARRIAGE DERAILED

(Received 23rd March, 2 p.m.) LONDON, 22nd March. The "Royal Scot/ one of the fastest trains in the world, which last month attained a speed of ninety miles an hour in a non-stop run between London and Carlisle, to-day within a few moments was a heap of. twisted steel and matchwood, from which came pitiful cries and groans of the injured and imprisoned. The crowded train, bound for Scotland, had slowed down to thirty miles an hour to take the points, when it leapt the rails. The engine, ploughing up the permanent way for fifty yards, overturned, scalding and killing instantly the driver and pinning down the fireman, who died before rescue was possible. The first two carriages telescoped, and partially overran the engine, driving up the tender and scattering tons of coal. The third and fourth coaches slewed sideways and crashed into the. second. The fifth overturned, and every carriage was derailed, the whole forming a rough cross across the four sets of metals. The passengers had just been called to lunch, and had not yet entered the dining car which was completely smashed, otherwise the death roil would have Been far heavier. The London, Midland, and Scottish Railway Company state that six were killed and five seriously injured. Many others are suffering from lesser injuries. Eye-witnesses describe heartrending scenes, acts of heroism, and difficulties of rescue amid the.piled-up wreckage. The chef, despite severed fingers, continuously searched for the assistant cook, and when ie was found dead, refused to go until the body was extricated. Several injuries necessitated immediate operations. A woman," who was accompanied by a little girl, had to undergo the amputation of a foot befor she could' be freed. An injured Scottish woman, imprisoned in debris for three hours, lay with her eighteen-year-old daughter's head in her lap. When she was rescued, it was found that the daughter's leg needed amputation. A doctor relates that he found a man with only his head protruding from the wreckage. "He said, 'I am all right, go and help the others. It will do more good.' I gave him an injection to relieve the pain I knew he must be suffering, although he refused to admit it." Many of the less seriously hurt paßsengers refused medical attention and' assisted in the rescue work, in. which the Scottish footballers, thirty-three strong, were prominent. There were numerous cases of miraculous escapes. A Glasgow business man says that five minutes before the crash he had a promonition of disaster and left the first carriage in which he was travelling. No sooner had ho settled in. the rear compartment, when the train was derailed.