OIL TANKS EXPLODE

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 August 1934, Page 7

OIL TANKS EXPLODE

HAVOC IN ARGENTINE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS LOST [by cable—press assn.— copyright.] NEW YORK, August 28. At Campana, in the Argentine Republic, 14 more huge oil tanks (in addition to a dozen earlier) exploded early to-day at the works of the National Oil Company, which is a subsidiary to the Standard Oil Coy. A change of wind, spreading a devastating fire, threatened the city of Campana itself. Blazing gasoline was to-day slowly spreading down the river to the city, causing a fresh panic among the populace, which already had started to evacuate the area. Four persons were dead from the original explosions of 12 large oil tanks, which earlier shook Campana and its neighbouring villages for 30 miles around. While there are two missing, 12 suffered serious hurts. Seventy were treated at the hospitals, and some two hundred others received treatment at their home and at drug stores. Firemen from the city of Buenos Aires, 40 miles away, and other nearby cities, have battled to quell the flames leaping from veritable lakes of oil and gasoline, which spread over Campana and the adjoining Panama River, and the nearby swamps.

Marines at the same time aided the policemen in their efforts to evacuate the residents from town. The first six tanks to explode did 3,000,000 dollars damage.