TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19558, 10 February 1927, Page 12

TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.

SYDNEY SUBURB SENSATION.

NINE PERSONS INJURED

[FKOM Ot'R OWN CORRESPONDENT.] SYDXEY, Feb. i.

With a roar that could be heard for miles round, paints, oils and gelignitu in r store at Chatswood, a suburb on "the northern side of Sydney Harbour, exploded, causing injuries to nine people and damage to scores of shops and residences.

A fire started in a shed used for • the storage of lime, and this caused a minor explosion which blow down a wall separating the shed from a store-house containing the inflammable and explosive materials. As soon as the. fire touched these the explosion occurred. Flames and black smoke shot 100 ft. in the. air and the store was wrecked. Debris was scattered in all directions, some of it falling hundreds of yards awav.

The shock was felt by residents half a mile away, and the explosion was heard by people in a dozen suburbs. Windows in shops and private houses were broken within a hundred yards of the store. One piece of iron, after shooting into the air fell on the slate roof of a new Methodist church, severely damaging it. Cracks showed iu the plaster walls of mamhouses. .

Most of the injured people were near the store. The most seriously injured was a fireman who was directing water from a hoso on the fire. He was almost buried by bricks and other debris, and suffered a' compound fracture of the left leg. Another rcan who was seriously injured was actually loading goocis front the store into a motor-truck when the force of the explosion hurled lum yards away. The other inuired people were struck •by flying debris. , J J One woman, a hundred yaras from the store, had an arm punctured by a piece of hurtling glass. There were dozens of narrow escapes and the wonder was that no persons were killed. Once the fire fighters had recovered from the shock of the explosion, the fire was soon quelled. Damage caused bv the fire and explosion was estimated at £7500.