BURTON EXPLOSION

Grey River Argus, 1 December 1944, Page 3

BURTON EXPLOSION

Over 160 Deaths LONDON, November 27. A “Daily Mail” correspondent at ißur ton-on-Trent says: Ail yesterday gangs of men, A.R.P. workers,' and pit rescue squads strived to reach the underground storage galleries irn the heart -of the area devastated by the R.A.F. boma dump ex-n’c-sion, which was the worst munitions disaster. All day they staggered out exhausted and defeated. Tile centre ct this blasted laud, v/hers every building is levelled or roofless, every vail flattened, and ever/ field a colander of craters, is sealed off from rescue by a wall of deadly gases. The full death roll may not be known for a week. Time after time rescuers who tried to penetrate underground galleries running hundreds of yards into the hillside found them filled with fumes and carbon monoxide gas. Rescuers wore pitmasks, but sometimes were still forced to stagger out after only two minutes in the galleries. Complete devastation in this sector of the storage area, as well as the wall of gas, held them off.