FRENCH EXPLOSION
52 DEATHS REPORTED VICTIMS UNIDENTIFIABLE MARSEILLES, Nov. 17 In the powder factory explosion yesterday at St. Chamas, near Marseilles, 52 people were killed and 160 injured. The majority of the bodies have been recovered but were unidentifiable owing to their mutilated condition. Fifty of those in hospital are in a critical condition The Minister of Defence, M Daladier, together with exports, flew to the scene to-day. The victims will receive a national funeral. A hole in the ground, 70 yards across and filled v ith muddy water, marks the site of the first explosion, and is being dredged for bodies. The secret police are making inquiries, but are hampered by the fact that the second blast killed all the witnesses of the first explosion. Numerous outbreaks of fire followed the main explosion. The rescuers toiled feverishly amid scenes of horror all night long under searchlights from a neighbouring air port, which were the only means of effective illumination.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22580, 19 November 1936, Page 11
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160FRENCH EXPLOSION New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22580, 19 November 1936, Page 11
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