VINCENNES DISASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20083, 22 October 1928, Page 9

VINCENNES DISASTER.

COLLAPSE OF A HOUSE.

NINETEEN WORKERS DEAD.

OTHER MEN STILL BURIED

TRAGIC SCENES AT RUINS.

ARREST OF CONTRACTOR.

Australian mid N.Z. Preps Association, (Received October 21. 5.H5 p.m.) Times Cable. LONDON. Oct 20,

Messages from Paris state I lint when the seven-storey building collapsed at, Vincenties 25 workman were buried beneath tho ruins. Policemen and firemen rushed to the rescue.

The contractor for the building, M. Provini, and his foreman, were arrested and charged with homicide through negligence. On tho way to a police station the former drew a revolver and attempted to shoot himself in (lie head, but was prevented from doing so. It. is feared that 19 men were killed. Nine bodies have been recovered so far. The groans of injured victims could bo heard from beneath the debris.

The Paris correspondent of tho Times says that in spite of the prolonged rescue work by gangs of workmen, policemen and soldiers, among the thousands of tons of debris, several men arc still buried in tho ruins. Three of the injured have been removed.

Few additional survivors are expected because flic majority were working oil the second floor and four completed storeys of Iho building collapsed upon them. A further collapse is now feared. Acetylene, blowpipes have been employed to cut the girders and release the victims.

One of four injured men who were huddled together in a cavity was given rum through a tube to maintain his strength. However, ho died after he was extricated. The other three men could noli ' ,R i cached. Injections of camphorated oil rnd cocaine sustained another man uniil he was rescued.

The builder and his foreman'admitted that suspicious cracks in the building were cemented three weeks ago. It is believed that the cheapness of the materials used and the absence of proper plans were responsible for the disaster.