LONDON TUBE DISASTER

Grey River Argus, 19 May 1938, Page 7

LONDON TUBE DISASTER

WORST ON RECORD 57 Casualties [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, May. 17. Seven were killed and 50 seriously injured in London’s worst underground smash, ' when two crowded trains collided between Charing Cross and Temple stations. The tunnel was plunged in darkness after the smash. The passengers were thrown in heaps. They realised the seriousness of the smash on hearing the groans and cries of the injured 0 The passengers were afraid to move for fear of those under the wreckage. „ , There was a blinding flash, accompanied by an explosion, under a carriage half an hour later. Many thought the train was on fire. They desperately smashed the windows and scrambled out. The track was covered with blood. They staggered to Charing Cross platform, through the black tunnel. . Charing Cross was converted into a vast casualty clearing station. Dozens of doctors, students, and nurses rusned from the Westminster and Charing Cross Hospitals. They worked feverishly, by light flares and torches] to extricate the injured apd to ease the suffering of those seriously injur-

ed. Guards attempted to prevent an exodus until the order to move, an hour after the crash, when the first rescuers carrying torches arrived Many passengers under the debris, and others lying on the track, were given injections of morphia. Cylinders of oxygen were carried into the tunnel, to revive the worst cases. In the foul atmosphere, 40 firemen and railways workers assisted in the exti’ication of the injured, amid the deafening noise of drills used to cut a way through the wreckage. The melancholy procession continued for 150 minutes, after which the last four of those who were trapped, were extricated, as the result of the super-human efforts of rescuers, who stripped to the waist were forced to jack up the carriage. Almost the entire resources of the Charing Cross Hospital were placed at the disposal of the rescuers. Many patients were removed from their beds to accommodate those who were injured, including the guard of the front train, who suffered a broken leg. The other train’s driver was not injured. Most of the victims were occupants of the front carriages of the oncoming train.’ A member of the railway staff, who was among the first rescuers, said a short circuit after the crash caused the fire, which was put out by carriage extinguishers. The current was then cut off. The police faced an enormous task, in the controlling of thousands of people in the vicinity of Charing Cross Station, where ambulances and fire engines were four deep. The greatest difficulty was experienced in removing patients, because of the crowds. Dr. Burgin (Minister of Transport) and Lord Ashfield, Chairman of ths Transport Board, visited the wreck. The underground system has a remarkable safety record. The chances of collision as the result of a technical fault are estimated at a million to one.