THE CASUALTIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 108, 8 May 1937, Page 9

THE CASUALTIES

33 BELIEVED DEAD

MANY NOTABLE PASSENGERS

NEW YORK, May 6.

Of the 97 people on board the Hindenburg 33 are believed to be dead. Nineteen bodies have been recovered. Sixty-four escaped alive, of whom 20 were passengers.

Among the passengers were many notable persons, including Captain Lehmann, former master of the Hindenburg, whose condition is critical, Captain Preuss, the present commander, was also seriously injured. Captain Stampf, second in command, apparently was also reached alive, but he was seriously injured.

The survivors included 26 members of the crew, but all were badly burned.

The ground crew miraculously escaped &y running for their lives. . The fate of the only three women passengers is undetermined. - One of the survivors said: "1 only know that there was a flash and an explosion. You who were on the ground should Know what happened; we were unable to see." Many of the survivors were burned or injured, or both. They were taken to hospitals in Lakehurst and nearby communities. It is believed that at least half are fatally' injured. The clothing was burned completely from several of them. The three children on board all escaped.

The company explained that the three ranking officers were saved because they were in the control car forward and furthest away from the first explosion, which was followed by five others. Thus the stern struck the ground first. The flames were slower in reaching the bow, providing an opportunity for the officers and more than half the passengers to escape.

If the dirigible's slow fall had been any slower probably all would have perished, since the flames enveloped the entire ship almost at the moment it came to rest on the ground.

It is believed that most of the survivors either leaped out or were thrown out by the impact with the ground, and not by the explosions. The rescue work is believed to have been greatly aided by a United States Army detachment which was detailed to the field in the possibility, of an emergency. The men went promptly to work, scurrying about in motortrucks and searching for injured while the skin of the airship was still blazing. .■:.■■■

announced that it is convening a board of inquiry. The Secretary of Commerc3 (Mr. Daniel C. Roper) is reported to be en route to the scene by plane to supervise the Bureau of Air Commerce inquiry.

State officials have ordered an inQuest. :. ■ Most experts are convinced that the icxplosioh'was due to static, but some have advanced the theory that sparks, resulting from the throttling down of the engines while gas was being valved, was the cause. ■ ' \.-

President Roosevelt has cabled' a message of condolence to Herr Hitler.

One of the survivors said: "I was standing at a window watching the lauding. , Without warning something hit me and 1 lost consciousness. The tie^i thing I knew was that I was lying on the ground with rain pouringon to my face. I must have been blown out of the window." I . '