BRIDGE COLLAPSE

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 July 1930, Page 5

BRIDGE COLLAPSE

A RHINELAND DISASTER

MANY LIVES LOST [by CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] BERLIN, July 23. The Rhineland Liberation Celebrations at Coblenz have been clouded by a disaster. A crowd of people were watching the illuminations in Ebrenbreitstein, on the opposite bank of the River Rhine, when they became jammed on a pontoon bridge, which collapsed. At least one hundred persons were thrown into the river. Twenty-four bodies had been recovered by midnight. The death roll totals forty. The flares which, earlier, had illuminated the merry throngs on the banks of the river were now lighting up the tragic scene as the weeping relatives identified the bodies, and the police and firemen dragnetted the stream for others.

The disaster was not generally known for some time owing to the police having closed the cafes, which had originally been authorised to remain open all night. The flags were then flown at half mast.

"IN THE MIDST OF LIFE.”

LONDON, July 23.

The “Times’s” Coblenz correspondent states: “There were at least one hundred people standing on the small bridge when the disaster occurred. The bridge was situated at the junction of the Rhine and the Moselle Rivers. The structure crumpled suddenly about 11.15 p.m. Numbers of the people were hit by falling beams, and others were drowned in pitch darkness, before there was any possibility of rescuers reaching them. Thus sadly ended a day of picturesque ceremonial and rejoicings.” i - President Von Hindenburg had travelled down the Rhine amidst whiteclad rows of children who were gathered along the waterside in front of the historic villages known as the “Romans on the Heights,” whose ruined castles were bedecked - with flags. The climax of the journey came when the President reached Coblenz where he stepped ashore amidst roars of cheering and the bursting of maroons. He drove through packed, tumultuous streets to the Stadthallri. The town fortress dominating it was illuminated in the evening, and offered a fascinating sight, fantastically reflecting in the waters until death stalked suddenly into the scene, with black mourning in its train. It is possible that Presi dent Von Hindenburg may now abandon his tour of the Rhineland,