FURNACE OF DEATH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20113, 26 November 1928, Page 11

FURNACE OF DEATH.

j| TERRIBLE train tragedy. i' '

COLLISION IN DENSE FOG.

!] LOSS OF TWELVE LIVES.

MANY HEARTRENDING SCENES.

Graphic details of the terriblo railway 'disaster caused by a collision between three trains at Charfield, Gloucestershire, on October 13, are published in the London papers. The trains involved were the Leeds-Bristol express and two goods trains. Twelve lives were lost and at least forty persons were injured. The collision occurred during a dense fog. The express, which loft Leeds at 10 p.m., and had picked up passengers at Birmingham, was proceeding at a good Bpeed when it collided with two freight trains, part of the contents of one of which was stated to have been petrol and other inflammable material. A series of explosions followed, and within a few minutes both trains had caught lire, and flames were shooting to such a height that they could lio seen and the resultant explosions heard two and a half miles away. Six fire brigades from neighbouring towns and villages were soon on the spot, while doctors, ambulance workers, nurses, policemen and lailwaymen dashed to the scene from all quarters. They were all held up by the fog, and by the time they arrived on the scene the wreckage was an inferno. The rescuers were also hampered by the fact that four of the coaches of the mail train were telescoped and piled up under Charfield Bridge. It was impossible to make a start on the salvage work here fur seven hours. Terrible Scene of Horror. The scene was one of horror. Mingling with the cries and moans of the injured was thi? hissing of steam and crackling of the flames. Frantically, with perspiration dripping from them, the rescuers worked in llio wreckage trying to release the trapped passengers. It was, however, a slow and very difficult task, for the greatest care had to be exercised to avoid causing further injury to those already hurt through loose pieces of debris being dislodged and falling on them.

Tho local hotel was converted into a temporary mortuary, to which were taken the remains cf tho victims, all except one being absolutely unrecognisable. This one was a woman, who, from tho expression on her face, must have known but littlo of tho collision. Her right arm was raised as if to guard her face.

One man dashed from a flaming coach nnd then cried: "I'vo lost my luggage;" and hurried back. He was never seen again. A Tost Office sorter, who had suffered from shellshock during the war, lost his reason, and had to be carried away forcibly from the scene, which, instead of lessening its horror, increased as thp minutes flew by.

People generally were calm, but one mnn was shouting out, "Oil, my God! Alice, Alice, where are you ?" and when his wifb answered him he burst into a flood of tears.

The behaviour of ono little girl about right years old was heroic. Although her leg was badly injured she only smiled through tears when they moved her, and she repeatedly asked if her mother and brother were safe, and whether the en-gine-driver was hurt. Trapped in a Blazing Waggon.

Mr. A. Cheshire was the first man to teach' the Charfiold Station side of the bridge, lie was burned 011 the head and arms during his effort to drag out a woman who was trapped in a blazing goods waggon. "When I got there it was just as if a huge bonfire had been lit, he said. "Steam was escaping and flames were licking round tho side of the bridge, leaping high into tho «iir, and sticking up in them w J the white-hot forcpait of an engine's chassis. "Wo scarcely know whore to start. The Rcreams from women and the cries of children were heartrending. We knew that the train carried a number of excursionists, but wo did not know whether in the telescoped carriages there were 20 or inavbe 100 people! "It was impossible to distinguish tho voices. The screams went on while tho ilaines became hotter. Then suddenly there was an awful silence. We flung our coats off, but it seemed impossible to approach the burning mass. Before it became silent I had heard a woman s voice moaning pitifully from one of the goods waggons. "A policeman came with mo as we crawled underneath tho burning waggon and with crowbars and axes broko away three planks at tho bottom of the waggon. The woman was quito still then, but finally we got her out. I can only surmise as she was on tho sido of the bridge in the waggon opposite to the side where the passenger coaches were that sho had been flung clean over tho bridge by the force of tho impact." Man's Vain Effort to Save Sister. A pathetic story was told by ono passenger, Mr. B. K. lluntly, of Penzance, who dislocated his right shoulder in a fruitless attempt to free his trapped sister. "I was travelling with my wife and sister," ho said. "1 shall never forget it. Tho whole compartment seemed to full in on me. f was thrown from one end of the compartment to tho other. Wo wero all in a struggling heap. "Then, as if God had done it to help uk, tho side of tho compartment completely fell away and I jumped down 6ft. t'i (he ground. Ono end of the carriage Was piled up on tho railway bridge. "I climbed back again with my senses numbed, only conscious that my wife and sister had to bo saved. I found rriy wife. Sho had only an injured wrist. I helped her out and as I did so I heard the pitiful screams of two women in the next compartment. They were trapped. "Willi superhuman strength, I suppose, I managed to free theni before the flames, which were roaring on every side, enveloped the compartment. Then I rushed to (lie assistance of inv sister. Sho was trapped from tho legs down. " I Nearly Went Mad." " 'Froo rue, please,' she pleaded, and I can si ill hear her terrible cries. 1 nearly went mad. I flawed and hammered with my fists at tho mass of woodwork which held her down. I knew it was hopeless, though Ten men could not have freed her and all tho time those flames were creeping nearer and nearer. Blisters camo on my hands P> In a last frantic effort. 1 wrenched at tho woodwork and ilien flames came up over rue and I fell back, more dead than alive. "I can still seo that awful look of fear in my sister's eyes. I fear her body was burned beyond recognition." Mr. Jack Fry, a quarryrnan at Charfield, who was the first man to arrive on tho scene, said: —"The noise shook the very earth. I rushed down to tho metal.s and begnn pulling out the screaming womon. It was awful. Arms and legs protruded hero and there, while the flames licked all round. The screams of the trapped passengers was the most nwful sound I have heard. We pulled nut, it seemed, dozens of injured passengers. Two of them died on the way to ih« Railway Hotel.