FIVE LIVES LOST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 6 August 1945, Page 5

FIVE LIVES LOST

TRUCK STRUCK BY RAILCAR PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEES KILLED LEVEL CROSSING SMASH AT WESTSHORE Napier, This Day Five iives were lost in a level cr /ssing smash at Westshore at 8.30 o’clock to-day, when a lorry containing five Public Works employees was struck a terrific impact by a north-bound railcar. All were killed outright. The victims are : A. H. Bryan, Taradale, driver, married. with six children. Tony Horne, married, one child, Bayview. Thomas Leonard Rowe, Napier. The other two have not yet been identified. When an inspection was made 20 minutes after the collision the railcar was off the tracks with a pile of charred wreckage in front. A body was discernible among the wreckage. A second body with a hand protruding could be seen underneath the front of the railcar it appears that the truck was proceeding in the'same direction as the railcar. Twc men were picked up dead on the right hand side of the track and one on the left hand side, apparently being thrown clear. The other two were lodged in the debris piled round the railcar. A portion of the truck caught fire and it is believed that one of the twi latter bodies was incinerated. There were no casualties in the railThe police, fire brigade and ambulance were on the scene within 10 minutes. Officials describe the accident as one of the worst in their experience. VTorkmen were soon engaged in removing debris and straightening the track. The cab of the truck was so crunched that it could be wheeled away in a barrow. —P.A CRASH INTO SEA

TWO A.I.F. GENERALS’ LUCKY ESCAPE (Rec. 12.20 p.m.) Sydney, This D ( ay. Two A.I.F. divisional commanders, Major-General J. E. S. Stevens and Major-General H. C. H. Robertson, were injured when a plane flying between Wewak and Lae crashed into the sea on Thursday night. The passengers and crew clung to the sinking wreckage until signals flashed by General Robertson from an electric torch brought a ship to their rescue. They were in the water about threequarters of an hour, endangered by sharks as well as by drowning. General Stevens suffered two broken ribs and General Robertson was badly shaken and suffered abrasions to the face. Both generals had been through a strenuous campaign of cleaning up Japanese from the islands and were on their way to the mainland. It was dark at the time and it is understood that the plane lost height as it was coming in low over the sea towards an airstrip which was close to the shore. General Stevens is commander of the Sixth Division in north New Guinea and General Robertson is commander of the Fifth Division on New Britain.