TRAGIC CROSSING SMASH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19196, 9 December 1925, Page 11

TRAGIC CROSSING SMASH.

TRAIN HITS CHARABANC, SIX PASSENGERS KILLED. HARROWING SCENES IN DARK. CHILD'S MIRACULOUS ESCAPE. By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright. (Received 9.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. Dec. 8 A shocking accident occurred at a railway crossing in Buckinghamshire. A charabanc had taken a party of 14 people from Woburn Sands to Blotchley. It was five miles from home on the return trip when it crashed through the railway gates at tho crossing and overturned. Ail express train from Cambridge reached the spot almost simultaneously and dashed into the wreckage. The night was dark, but there was no fog. Tho roads wero slippery under a thaw. Harrowing scenes followed tho accident. Lamps were brought from cottages in the ■ vicinity and the injured wore extricated with difficulty. They were placed in the guard's van of the colliding train in which doctors rendered first aid on the way to Bedford. Three men and three women were killed. They were mutilated beyond recognition. The police were still searching at midnight for hand-bags and other articles by means of which the dead might be identified. The driver of the charabanc was seriously injured. A child had a miraculous escape. It was picked up on the track within inches of tho wheels of tho train.