FERRY BOAT SINKS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 35, 10 August 1934, Page 9

FERRY BOAT SINKS

COLLISION AT NIGHT

NEWCASTLE HARBOUR

FORTY PASSENGERS ABOARD

FEARED LOSS OF LIFE

Dnltcd Press Association—By Electric TeJ»craplj—iCopyrlgUt.: (Received August 10, noon.) SYDNEY, This Day. : The ferry steamer Blue. Bell, j plying between Newcastle and j Stockton, sank a minute after collision with die steamer Warraneen on the Newcastle Harbour late last night. The passengers of the Blue Bell numbered about forty. One woman, Mrs. Kingsmill, is believed to have been drowned, and another, Mrs. Hardy, is missing. The rescue work was so swift that the police think that everyone cl?e was saved. The pass?ng?rs on the upper dock of the Blus Bell <=«ved themselves by jumping aboard the Warraneen, but about thirty on the lower deck of the Blue Bell were thrown into the water. There were scenes of panic and confusion on the ferry, on which the lights had gone. out. Those in the cabin smashed the windows and escaped. ■ The two vessels stayed locked together for about thirty seconds after the impact, but when they separated the Blue Bell, apparently badly holed,: lurched over and sank. Rescue launches were quickly on the scene, lifting the dazed people aboard. A,.man and a child were admitted to hospital, the latter in a serious condition. Nineteen others were treated for shock and immersion. .