150 MISSING FROM DANISH SHIP MINED IN KATTEGAT: PASSENGERS PANIC

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22662, 12 June 1948, Page 5

150 MISSING FROM DANISH SHIP MINED IN KATTEGAT: PASSENGERS PANIC

(N. Z.P.A.—Reuter—Copyrlsrht.) (11.30 a.m.) COPENHAGEN, June 11. About 150 passengers are still missing from the Danish passenger ship Kjobenhavn, 1668 tons, which sank In the Kattegat 10 minutes after striking a mine, five miles offshore as it was about to enter the iniet to Aalborg.

A company official said there were 350 people aboard the vessel. All the passengers are believed to be Scandinavian nationals.

Fishing vessels and Danish * naval units rescued 257 passengers. Two hundred passengers were asleep in their berths when the explosion occurred. The remainer, who were travelling 1 steerage, spent the night in deck j chairs. ■ Passengers Leap Into Sea : The passengers, following the explosion, jumped into the seas in a 1 panic. The Kjobenhavn sank in shallow water which had been declared free s of danger following extensive mine- j sweeping. ] The Danish Navy estimated that elsewhere in the Kattegat there are . still 2000 unswept mines. ! The British United Press correspond- \ ent in Copenhagen says that Captain ‘ Kiil returned to the ship after it had J settled on the seabed and directed we 1 rescue operations from the top of the bridge which is protruding above the . water. ! 1

Because the ship settled on the side it was impossible to get away more than two lifeboat's Many of those rescued were severely injured and suffered from exhaustion. They were taken to emergency stations established on the beaches near Hals. It is unofficially stated that the mine was of the magnetic type. First aid stations were established along the coast to care for survivors. Ambulances and doctors from almost every town in Northern Jutland were sent there and to hospitals. Fighting For Life in Rough Seas

When the news of the disaster spread to Copenhagen, flags were halfmasted on all ships in the harbour and crowds of relatives gathered in front of the shipping company’s offices. The Danish State radio cancelled its ordinary programmes and broadcast bulletine on the disaster. An officer of the first ship to reach the shore with survivors said that hundreds were fighting for their lives in rough seas. Some were clinging to pieces of wreckage, some swimming and calling for help. Survivors told the reporters that some frantic passengers jumped overboard with small children in their arms.

Most of the survivors—many of them hysterical—knew nothing of what happened to their husbands, wives and children.

One man said that ‘on the deck of the Kjobenhavn there was bedlam. Men and women fought to reach the rail and others tried to get away from the rail while members of the crew were pushing people into the water.