VOLCANIC ERUPTION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 20 December 1913, Page 8

VOLCANIC ERUPTION.

DISMAY AND DISASTER.

RUINOUS RESULTS.

f=l*£ HUNDRED NATIVES PERISH

■T OASIiS—PBEBB ASSOCIATION—COPYBI3HT. SYDNEY, Dec. 19. Later details of the volcanic eruption at Ambryin Island received by the steamer Pacifique, indicate that there was heavy loss of life among the natives.- '- ■•; "- '•■ ''' '■■■■; -v ■■ "■ .

The steamer La France made two trips to the island, rescuing over 400 V but it is feared'that between four and five hundred natives perished. It is reported that a large party of natives were surrounded by. lava. Relatives who were unable to reach them saw them slowly roasting' to death. i?The captaitt; of-vthe-^Pacifiaue ":<&&•■ serjbes the ervtptioh as ■magnifijeent but ghastly. There' were continuous detonations. Great red-hot boulders were thrown into the sea,, causing the •water to rise in columns scores of feet high. The air was filled with a choking -dust. " The wjiole island was lit with an unearthly-light; ; <\\ (Received Dec. 20, 11.45 a.m.) SYDNEY, Dec. 20. J The passengers by the • Pacifique give a vivid description of the Ambrym eruption.. The. .outbreak-wasnot un«xpected; excepting iii a degree, as the volcano of Mount Marum, in t the centre, of T the, "island,^ had been in eruption for some weeks. 'On the morning of December 5y however, it was discovered that five new craters tad opened in the range of mountains, and -, subterranean rumblings, became more-' pinmous.: s At ;rtinies •treinien.aous explosions' shook 'the earth, and the Wholfe islahcl wasr.trjembling and plungeing like a frightened horse. ' T&e liatiyes, •whVhitherto:Lave regarded vol-: canoes complacently, took fright and fled panic-stricken tp the coast, and entering their canoes, took refuge in other islands. . •■■*..

At night-time 'the flames shot a thousand feet into the ait, illuminating the whole .scene of ••destruction. Streams of lava rushed down slopes, the ocean boiled, and huge meteors, thrown from the ■.volcanoes, plunged into the water The air was filled with dust, reaching a distance of ten miles from the scene of the outbreak. A great black cloud over the new craters, making a darkness" that could almost be felt. -.

The upheavals were so severe that the entire coast between Olai and Sessivi, has been devastated and transformed.

Dip Point and Craig's Cove have been annihilated. At what was previously the anchorage at Dip Point, a new peninsula, one and a-half miles in length, has been formed with a submarine volcano at its extremity. NARROW ESCAPE.

Six white people on the island, including Dr. Bowie, took refuge upi a launch, and. the patients at the Bowie Hospital were, also removed aboard. Hardly had the launch left the landing stage, when a lava stream reached and .destroyed the hospital, the mission station, and a number of residences. The launch proceedecUto Port Sandwich, on the adjoining island, and reported the catastrophe. RESCUE WORK.

The steamer La Prance and Dr. Bow-' ies launch immediately returned to the scene, touching at various points •on the island, and picked up the panicetrieken natives. Altogether three trips were made, arid ovei- six Hundred jiatives, all that could be found, were rescued. The population of Ambrym has Sbeen stated to be about eleven hundred ; therefore, supposedly, * teome five hundred have perished.