13 Killed in Rail Smash
Overcome by Fumes
CHEMICAL TANK EXPLODES United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright, HELSINKI, Oct. 6. Thirteen were killed and 12 injured when an express and a goods train collided in fog between Rauha and Tainonkoski, resulting in an explosion in a sulphur-dioxide tank, the fumes from which asphyxiated the majority of the victims. The accident occurred because some of the wagons from the unusually long goods train were shunted on to the main track. The driver, on hearing the approach of the express, leapt for his life as the expross crashed into the wagons, telescoping two sleeping-cars and killing the first victim. Gas overcame men and women climbing out of the sleeping-cars. They fell back into the splintered coaches and died. The people rendering first aid, being without gas-masks, wore unable to approach until the fumes were dispersed. Meanwhile, they watched five of the victims succumb. The debris is expected to yield further corpses. The goods train driver and another employee have been arrested.
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Bibliographic details
Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 238, 8 October 1938, Page 5
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16813 Killed in Rail Smash Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 238, 8 October 1938, Page 5
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