BOMB IN LONDON RAID CAUSES APPALLING SCENES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16763, 1 February 1918, Page 5

BOMB IN LONDON RAID CAUSES APPALLING SCENES.

DIRECT HIT ON BUILDING CONTAINING 1000 PEOPLEAustralian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, Jan.. 30. The worst bomb of Monday night's raid was dropped on a large establishment used as a raid shelter in a district thickly populated. No exact estimate of the number of persons sheltering is available, but estimates vary from 300 to 1000. The staff states that it is capable of holding. 1000, and it was crowded. Firemen assisted in removing the bodies. They declare that the brigade removed about 25 during the night. It is believed that 13 others have since been recovered. The brick building looked as if it had been cut in half by a huge guillotine, the interior walls and floors then collapsing. The police and fire brigades assert that it is impossible even yet to give a reliable estimate of the deaths, but it is certain that the majority were women and children.

None of the survivors seem able to give a coherent account of the terrible ensuing scene. It was ■ a scene of indescribable horror, to which the fire gave the last touch. The basement was a raging inferno within a few minutes. The brigades, the police, soldiers, and civilians did what men could to rescue the survivors, but many of the injured must have perished in the flames. The building was soon aflame from top to bottom. Daybreak found it a smoking ruin. About 100 employees were working when the alarm was given, and they assisted those seeking shelter to the basement and tended those needing attention during the laid. Many of these employees were among the casualties. Many people had left the shelter during a lull in the barrage and flocked back when the guns resumed, announcing that the air attacks were being renewed. The bomb dropped almost immediately.