PASSENGER SEA-PLANE DISASTER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 27 March 1922, Page 5

PASSENGER SEA-PLANE DISASTER

SEVERAL DEATHS FROM DROWNING (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association). NEW YORK, March 25. A report from Miami, (Florida) states that a passenger seaplane fell into the sea. Five passengers were drowned. Pilot Moore was rescued. Further reports state that on Friday the boat overturned and Moore and one passengers were then clinging to the wreckage. Finally the passenger was too weak to hold on and_ handed his money to Moore and slid into the sea. Moore hung on till Friday night when he was picked up by a tanker, nine vessels having in the meantime passed by without seeing him. Later, on arrival of the tanker at Miami, a tragic story was revealed. Moore was incoherent .after regaining consciousness, but his .statements, pieced together, show that the seaplane left Miami Wednesday bound for Bimini, carrying two married couples and another woman. On Wednesday morning the propeller broke and the plane descended into the eea and drifted till Thursday, the passengers clinging to the wreck. On Thursday morning the hull began to leak and the passengers commenced _ pumping frantically. On Thursday night, one woman jumped overboard, her husband following. Both were drowned. Then the two other women were washed overboard and disappeared, leaving me man and the pilot.