RAILWAY DISASTER

Evening Star, Issue 22687, 29 June 1937, Page 9

RAILWAY DISASTER

ACCIDENT TO LONDON-BOUND TRAIN CUSH INTO DEAD-END SIDING Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, Juno 28. A train from Ashford (Kent), which waa proceeding to London, crashed into » dead-end siding at Swanley, It is reported that four persons were hilled and 12 injured. The terrific noise of the impact, accompanied by a blinding electric flash which was caused by the engine striking a 32,000-volt transformer, wakened the whole neighbourhood at 11.30 p.m. Ambulances and doctors were rushed to Swanley. ' The engine was found embedded in a high bank. Two of the leading carriages were wrecked, and the screaming victims' were trapped in the debris. Rescuers worked with torches, extricating the dead and the injured. The train carried about 400 people, who had made a Sunday excursion to the seaside. The dead include three women who were travelling in *the first compartment. A child, also the occupant of the first compartment, miraculously escaped. He was sleeping when the train crashed and was catapulted across the compartment into the lap of a woman who was found dead. The fireman escaped with minor injuries.