THE BERLIN EXPLOSION

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 22, 7 January 1928, Page 3

THE BERLIN EXPLOSION

NO WARNING SOUND. FIFTEEN DEAD. Berlin, Jan. 5. The city house explosion came without warning. A flame shot up 20 feet and in a moment sleepers on various floors were engulfed, beds and all, in 30 feet of debris on the ground level. Twelve dead have been alreadyrecovered and at least four are still buried. The search continues with the aid of searchlights. Twenty were seriously injured. It is a miracle that anyone escaped, as some masses of debris were hurled a quarter of a mile. Rescue was a task of extreme danger, as crumbling jnasonry was continually crashing down. The police and firemen were very plucky and several were injured. The building was a big concrete tenement, occupied by 99 persons belong to 28 families. Jusf before the catastrophe 30 guests, who had been merrymaking at a birthday party left the building, but the host and hostess were killed. A tiny dog was heard whining in the darkness and firemen sawed through a heavy beam and saved the dog, and their acetelyene lamps revealed the dog’s master hanging head downwards among bricks and mortar, whence he had fallen from the upper floor. He asked the firemen first to extract his wife, but the firemen found that she was dead. The latest report states that 15 are dead and one missing.—(A. and N.Z.)