GUSHER CLAIMS 16 LIVES.
BODIES FLOAT IN BLAZING OIL. EXPLOSION IN TEXAS. Thirteen identified bodies and three skeletons in a blazing oil lake was- the known toll of death from flip explosion at a gusher in Texas during May. Th-e fire continued burning unchecked for two days and was visible for fiftv miles. The smoke extruded eleven miles from the scene of the disaster. W lien the blast came, sixteen ■ f the fifty men in the two crews and a connecting gang were sucked in by the •sheet of flame. Some of Hie workmen were burled flat on the ground: < ther-s tried to creep away from the spread of the fire. J. K. Hughes, head of the Development Co., said: “Some of the crew which was relieving the day .•shift: at (lie well had just come from Alexia a few Lours before. Other members of tin's and a roustabout crew working near the well were reported missing in the general confusion and the personal list makes jfimpossible to ascertain just 3tow many are dead, missing and unaccounted for.” The lire originated from a mark as a workman dropped a control valve alongside the casing of the gusher. Reliable reports say the well was flowing wild at the rate of 5000 barrels of oil and in excess of 20.000,0011 feet of gas when ii ignited.
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Gisborne Times, Volume LIX, Issue 9576, 30 July 1923, Page 2
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224GUSHER CLAIMS 16 LIVES. Gisborne Times, Volume LIX, Issue 9576, 30 July 1923, Page 2
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