VIADUCT COLLAPSES

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 11 June 1926, Page 5

VIADUCT COLLAPSES

EXPRESS TRAIN DERAILED. BIG CASUALTY LIST NEW SOUTH WALES DISASTER). BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION-COPYRIGHT. Received! 9.30 a.m. to-day. SYDNEY, June 11. Owing to thei collapse af a. wooden viaduct 'between Togair land Aberdeen, about 180 mile® north of Sydney, life Brisbane express which left Sydney yesterday afternoon was derailed shortly before midnight. Five people were killed, and over thirty were injured, scini'e critically. Medical' and was sent from vS'oone. 'and Miiiswelfllbraok, and the injured who were able to he moved ware .sent to hospital .ait these place®. Detail 1® at present are meagre. • FURTHER DETAILS. VIADUCT BREAKS UNDER TRAIN. APPALLING SCENES WITNESSED. Received 11.25 a.m. to-day. SYDNEY, June 10. The train consisted of two engine®, a van and seven carriages. There were 143 passengers aboard. An official statement showed that the leading engine and four carriages went off the line and the. assisting engine toppled on its side. The accident was caused by three spans of the span® of the wooden viaduct collapsing when the train'‘was passing over it. The viaduct crosses a ravine twentyfive feet deep. The first engine crossed safely, but the viaduct collapsed tinder the second engine and'the first carriage. The engine crashed into the ravine and was followed by the next two carriages. It was fortunate that the first engine and the third carriage kept the track, thus preventing further wreckage and additional casualties. The- viaduct is within a short distance of . the Hunter River. Owing to the darkness, the work of rescuing the injuxetl proved to bo very difficult, and the searching of the debris had to be suspended for some time. After one o’clock this morning rescue parties built camp fires and awaited the dawn. Passengers travelling in a second class carriage, which was next to the engine, appeared to have suffered most. The carriage was split in two, one part still standing and the other was overturned. Most of the dead were found in this, carriage. The fourth carriage was tilted down through the viaduct. Appalling scenes were witnessed after the disaster. Flares, motor-car head, lamps and other methods of illumination were used to throw light on the wreckage. Some people were* so seriously injured that they could not be moved from the spot. Those less seriously hurt, after treatment at the hospital, were accommodated in private houses. The permonent way was tom and twisted. The driver and fireman of the second engine hatl remarkable escapes. Both were buried beneath coal when the engine overturned. The fireman suffered a broken jaw and the driver received minor injuries and shock.