APPALLING SCENES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10718, 12 October 1920, Page 5

APPALLING SCENES

TERRIBLE RAILWAY SMASF NEAR PARIS. THIRTY-EIGHT BODIES EREIK Australian and N.Z. Cable AcsoclaMon. PARIS, October 10. The railway disaster was duo to tho breakdown of the goods engine, the driver of which was about to switch' it to another track and to warn the officials at Hjouilles and enable the express bound to Mantes to pass. Owing, however, to the declivity, the heavilyladen wagons advanced beyond the point and obstructed the main line under a footbridge. The driver of the express, seeing the danger, applied tha brakes and reversed the engine, but the impact was so terrific that his , engine and tender climbed oyer the goods wagons and capsized. The first two coaches were buckled one on tho other, and the third was lifted to the height of the footbridge, which cut through the roof. The result was the more appalling because the coaches, like that of most suburban trains, had a covered upper deck for outside passengers. The train was crowded, mostly with workers living; in Mantes. Six coaches were completely smashed. One crashed on top of a signal-box, lulling the signalman. Thirty-eight bodies have been brought to Paris. A previous message stated:—An ex« press train running from Paris to Mantes oollidcd with a goods train at Houilles. Eight coaches were telescoped. Many persons were killed and a hundred we're injured. ■ .

THE VENICE TRAGEDY STARTLING EVIDENCE AT IN. QUIRY. ROME, October 10. Twenty-six" people were killed in tha Venice railway accident, including Signor Bombacci, a leading Socialist deputy.' LONDON, October 10. The "Daily Chronicle's" Milan cor« respondent states that the railway disaster on the Venice causeway was much more serious than was at first reported. In addition, to *he dead bodieß whoso corpses were recovered, other passengers were hurled into the sea and drowned. No help was forthcoming for several A passenger had to walk three mile's to Venice to convey the tidings. At a preliminary inquiry it was stated that the signalling apparatus had rusted and worked imperfectly; the signalman was intoxicated; and the signal-lamp at the rear of the tiain was so obscured with filth that tho driver of the Trieste-Rome train could distinguish its colour onla few Jpards away.