TRAGIC EXPLOSION
TASK OF IDENTIFICATION. LONDON, July 4. Tli© process of identifying the victims of the recent explosion at the Royal Naval cordite factory in Dorset was a grim affair. Of the 10 persons who were killed one was identified by his troupers, another by initials on his gmnboots, and a third by the ham-mer-toes of portion of a body onud in the earthworks. One witness said the remains of three others were completely unrecognisable. There was no trace of two senior officials, who were last seen standing in a ga'ngway near the nitro-glvcerine house, in which all the dead were employed. The inquest was adjourned pending an Admiralty inquiry, which, according to the “Evening News,” will give attention to the probability of the mishap having been associated with a thermometer recording the temperature of nitric acid and glycerine during mixing. During that process, the temperature of the ingredients must not rise above 24, or fall below 10 degrees.
A mail, who ceaselessly watched the thermometer, pulled a lever in the event of the mercury approaching either danger line, plunging the add into a “drowning pit,” rendering it harmless. The unfortunate fact is that the most crucial piece .of evidence, the thermometer, was completely destroyed in the explosion.
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Hokitika Guardian, 16 July 1931, Page 6
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208TRAGIC EXPLOSION Hokitika Guardian, 16 July 1931, Page 6
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