EXPLOSION IN BERLIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19838, 7 January 1928, Page 9

EXPLOSION IN BERLIN.

COLLAPSE OF BUILDING. SLEEPING PEOPLE BURIED. BRAVERY OF RESCUERS. TWELVE BODIES RECOVERED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received January 6, 10.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. BERLIN, Jan. 5. The disastrous explosion which occurred in a five-storeyed tenement house in Berlin early yesterday morning came without warning. A fame shot up for 20ft., and in a moment the people who were sleeping on the various floors were engulfed, beds and all, in 30ft. of debris on the ground level. The bodies of 12 ■ dead people have already been recovered, and at least four are still buried. The search continues with the aid of searchlights. Twenty people were seriously injured. It was a miracle that anyone escaped, as some masses of debris were hurled for a quarter-of-a-mile. To rescue the buried inmates was a task of extreme danger, as crumbling masonry was con tinually crashing down. The police and firemen were very plucky, and several were injured. The building was a largo concrete structure, and was occupied by 99 persons, representing 28 families. Just before the catastrophe 30 guests who had been mer-jmaking at a birthday party left the building, but their host and hostess were killed.

A small dog was heard whining in the darkness during the rescue operations, and firemen sawed through a heavy beam to save it. Their acetylene lamps revealed the dog's master, who was hanging head downwards among the bricks and mortar, where he had fallen from an upper floor. He asked the firemen first to extricate his wife, but the firemen found that she was dead. The explosion is ascribed to a mishap to the refrigerator, which did service for the premises, or to an escape of coal gas.