AWFUL CALAMITIES

Northern Advocate, 11 June 1926, Page 5

AWFUL CALAMITIES

SOUTH AFRICAN EXPRESS TRAIN CRASHES INTO BRIDGE. SIXTEEN PASSENGERS MANGLED (Received 9.10 a.m.) CAPETOWN, June 10. A disastrous railway accident occurred at Salt River, two miles from

Capetown, Sixteen persons were killed, including Sir Malcolm Searle,' Judge President of the Cape Provincial Division of the Supreme Court ol So rth Africa. Twenty-six others were injured. The accident was due to a coupling breaking, three rear coaches of the express dashing into the stanchions of an overhead road bridge.

The scene of the disaster is an imj portant junction of the main and suburban lines. ... The disaster is the worst which has ever happened to a suburban train in I this country, and has rarely been exj eeeded in the death roll in the history of South African railways. The wrecked train was popular and usually crammed with passengers for various stations as far as Simonstown, a naval port. The accident was remarkable for the terrible mangling of the victims. Arms, legs and feet were picked up among the debris.—Renter. SERIOUS DERAILMENT. CAUSES FIVE DEATHS. i I THIRTY INJURED. I j (Received 9.41 a.m.) ’ ' SYDNEY, This Day. I ©wing to the collapse of ■ a wooden [viaduct between Togar and Aberdeen, I about 180 miles north of Sydney, the | Brisbane express, which left Sydney, yesterday afternoon, was derailed shortly before midnight. Five persons were killed and over 30 injured, some of them critically. Medical aid was sent from Scone and Muswellbrook. -The injured who were ’able to "be moved were sent to the hospitals at those places. ""Details at present are meagre.— A. and N.Z.

FALL INTO RAVINE. APPALLING SCENES. RESCUE WORK DIFFICULT. (Received 11.2 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The names of' those killed in the railway accident are as follow: Miss B. Dalziell, of Toowoomba, Queensland. Mrs 'Bennett, of Mosman, Sydney. F. Yhi in Mon Sour, an Assyrian. A man named White, of Queensland, md an unidentified man. The names of those critically injured ire.— . Ward Morgan, an actor, who had

I both legs broken. J .Mrs Alice Nicholls, of fManly. { The Queensland train consisted of two ! engines, a van and seven carriages. There were 143 passengers aboard. The official statement, showed that the leading engine and four carriages went off the line, and the assisting engine "top- , pled on its side. 5 The accident was caused, by three . spans of a wooden viaduct collapsing . j when the train was passing over it. /' [! The viaduct, crosses a ravine 25 feet' . I deep.: The first engine- crossed safely, ' jbut the viaduct? 1 collapsed under the - 'second engine-, -and the first carriage. | and engine crashed into the ravine, foli lowed- by the next two carriages. It was fortunate that the tirst engine and third carriage kept the track, thus preventing further wreckage and additional casualties.' The viaduct is within a‘ short : dis-' tanee of the-Hunter River. ’ ' ■ ' ■

Owing to .the; darkness the work of rescuing . the injured. proved very, difficult. Searching of the debris had-to be suspended for some time after one •o'clock this morning. The rescue parties built camp fires and awaited the dawn.

j The passengers travelling in a. seeI ond-class carriage which was next to jthe engine appeared .to have suffered (most. The carriage was split in two. | One part is still' standing. The other j overturned. Most of the dead were found in this carriage. . j : The fourth carriage was tilted down, through the viaduct. ,-v-- <‘l ; seeties- were- witnessed [after the xupt^ijuar headlights and other methods 0.1;,i illumination were used to.-throw light on flie wreckage. Some people were so ; seriously injured that they could not be moved from the spot. ; Those less .seriously hurt, after treatment at hospitals, were accommodated in private house?. ..- The permanent way was turn and twisted. The driver and fireman of the second engine had remarkable esc;, pcs. Both were buried beneath the .-oai when the engine . overturned. The fireman suffered a broken jaw, and the driver minor injuries and. shock.—A. and N.Z.