PANIC AMONGST THE PASSENGERS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 127, 1 June 1914, Page 5

PANIC AMONGST THE PASSENGERS.

-2.50 'BODIES

-RELIEF TRAIN DERAILED

SALVATION FIELD FORCE

WIPED OUT

QUEBEC, May 30. Panic broke out after the terrific •collision. Men and women rushed from the cabins. Some reached tfoe deck and' were hurledi into the river, owing to the angle of the deck. Parents were sepa.ra.tied from their children and husbands from their Da- Grant, the ship's surgeon, sawa many owing te his coolness and tlhe capable dii-ection of medical-attention when the survivors- were picked up. Captain Kendall stood on the bridge ••when tJie vessel sank. Two-hundred and fifty dead bodies "■•vrere recovered.

- -Dr Grant went down in tUie ship, cbut he managed to escape through a : porthole. The search still continues amongst 'the wreckage in the river. Five persons were found clinging to wreckage still alive, but they are not likely to 'survive the exposure. . A steerage passenger named Phillip 'Lawler asserted' that an explosion really caused the Empress of Ireland to sink so rapidly that people were put of the sliip like peas from a pod. Lawler and his wife and -son slipped overboard,, being unable to stand on the sloping deck/ The wife slipped from her husband's grasp and was drowned. The others were resi"<2uecK ■■■■'■ ;' '" •■.•'■"•■

, Another' woman leaped, from the sinking steamer and swam around ■awaiting succour for ■■nearly an -hour. fShe was then picked up, dying aboard the rescuing tug. A relief train conveying the special emergency-, staff of the OanadiainPacific Company was derailed, a,nd a Hseoond train was promptly despatched, whirih. brouglit the survivoi-s to Quebec. Twenty-two altogether died .'from exposure..;. Only twelve women »w^ra rescued.

Prince Alexander of Teck, Mr Bor"deai, and the King telegraphedl con:dolencesv \ ; : •

The •* Government hats ordei-ed a •searching inquiry, and a relief fund 'has been opened, the Government promising a large'contribution. The Salvation • Army lost heavily. "The whole of the Territorial field force for Canada was wiped out, including .Commissioner Rees. Tlhe Arniy promptly met here and organieedi >a new set of delegates and despatched them by the next outgoing steamer v the band:playing through the streets 'fGod be with .you till we meet <again."

Enormous crowds awaited the a;rrivalof the resciied at the station. Iftie survivors were too hysterical to be able to give a cohei^ent account of the disaster.