TERRIBLE DISASTER.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 November 1924, Page 9

TERRIBLE DISASTER.

BRITISH RAILWAY SMASH. HEARTRENDING SCENES. FURTHER DETAILS. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. (Received Nov. 5, 1.45 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 4. The train which was wrecked (referred to on page 5) was the 4.40 afternoon business people’s express. The engine dashed into a signal box with such force that it turned round and faced the train, which consisted of five coaches, whereof four were overturned. The last caught fire, and the second stood up on end. Twelve were killed and 33 injured. The latest reports of the train smash indicate that there was difficulty in identifying the. bodies. The night was very dark. Thousands of helpers and 100 motor cars rushed to the scene of the. disaster. Those killed included the driver, whose body took some time to find; also Captain Charles Greame, commander of the White Star liner Bardic. . Many were injnred. Several prominent Lancashire business men were involved. One man was decapia leg amputated. The signal box was tated, and another was obliged to have smashed to smithereens, and the signalman hurled, into the brook below, but he escaped. Commander Graeme was most courageous, and insisted on the other sufferers being attended to before himself. The scene where the catastrophe occurred was. appalling. Blood-stained limbs could he seen beneath the carnages. The cries of the injured were most distressing. Three of the injured who are in hospital are in a serious condition. According to a Liverpool message the Lancashire railway disaster was due to a tyre coming off the front wheel of the engine,- which was travelling at 50 miles per hour.