DISASTER AT LYONS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20722, 15 November 1930, Page 11

DISASTER AT LYONS

STREETS ENGULFED* COLLAPSE OF HOUSES. /' [HUGE FALLS OF EARTH. (MANY KILLED ASLEEP. SCENES OF HORROR. By Te! eprvaph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received November 14, 7.15 p.m.) 1! PARIS. Nov. 14. As the result of great falls of earth, caused by tho collapse of underground workings, early in tho morning, a large number of persons, perhaps as many as 300, were killed in tlio densely populated St. Jean district of Lyons. Two streets were engulfed and many houses wrecked. {The .extent of tho havoc precludes an accarato computation of the numbers killed.

Manv people were killed in their sleep. (There were two falls of earth, the second causing probably 16 deaths, chiefly among firemen and policemen, who rushed to the aid of sufferers.

Tho /disaster occurred in the old part of the town, which was soaked by recent exceptional rains. Thousand? of tons of earth fell with a noise like thunder, rousing tho entire district. Scores of injured were taken to tho cathedral and attended to by nuns.

The polico immediately began the evacuation of houses surrounding the district. "Whole families were aroused and led to places of safety.

"A noise like thunder awoke me," said one survivor. "When I opened my eyes I saw the ruins of my houso about me. I lay in the debris until I was rescued by firemen. House:: Fall Like Cards. "Half an hour later camo another tumbling sound and another collapse, which, buried the rescuers and myself. It was a terrible sight. Houses crumpled like packs of cards, and the ground trembled as though there was an earthquake." Tho second collapse sent a huge mass of earth and stone like an avalancho upon already engulfed houses. Two hundred yards of a street slid 50 yards downhill toward the River Saone near its junction with the Rhone. There werei five convulsions between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Tho rock-founded basilica of Fourviero Cathedral towers on the edge of the new-formed precipice, below which is the Antiquaille Hospital, wMicn has now been evacuated and holds back tons of debris. At the foot is a ;vast chasm. The first warning came when the high wall; of St. Pathin Hospital, situated over quarries,, crashed down on a house occupied by nuns, demolishing it like a pack of cards. Noise Like an Explosion.

A survivor narrates that he was nwakened by a noise liko an explosion, followed by the motor horns of fire brigades, but he returned to bed, escaping an hour later with his brother and on aged mothe* after the collapso of his house

A house opposite also collapsed after the ii/mates had returned to bed, but they were mostly saved by firemen equipped with ropes and ladders. Others stampeded after the first collapse. The street was packed with bewildered men, women and children in night clothes until, amid the increasing panic, accommodation was provided at the cathedral and elsewhere. The public square resembles a rummage market owing to the presence of retrieved household , goods thrown down higgledy piggledy. Rescuers had rushed up in the darkness and had barely installed arc lights when a block of houses fell on them, burying 23 firemen and police and cutting an ambulance in two. Gallant Rescue Work. (Subsidence followed subsidence until fe row of seven-story tenements was * heap of ruins. Nevertheless volunteers, defying death and danger, gallantly strove with rescue work. All the taxicabs in the town were mobilised as ambulances. In spite of his illness the former Premier, M. Herriot, who is Mayor, hastened to the scene. He heard a fireman explain that 23 bodies were under his feet./

Captain Rocliat and assistant-Captain Netral, of the fire brigade, and Police-Cap-tain Monsanion were struck down inBtantly while directing operations. A parish priest was badly gashed by falling masonry, but continued his ministrations to the injured. The rescue work is being pushed on desperately, amid cries and moans from under heaps of debris from which corpses me being extricated. The hillside is still 'edging itself toward the river. Search For Buried Firemen. Oxygen is being administered to a semi-conscious, inextricable woman to whom a doctor, after wriggling to her side at! the utmost risk, injected morphia. A pi ess aeroplane from Paris lell into the River Suone near its destination and sank. The pilot, a reporter and a photographer reached the bank. The authorities, owing to the possibility of further collapses, have sought reinforcements from Grenoble. A detachment of sappers equipped with searchlights was quickly on the spot,/but the piled up dust and rubbish prevented anything being seen clearly. Firemen and sappers surrounded the ruins searching for their buried comrades, but were unable to hear anything. Xnxiotv was increased when another collapse occurred at four o clock.